Unmasked
by WingsOfMorphius
Summary: COMPLETE! Thanks to a mistake on her part, Valerie finds herself in yet another life or death situation, where the only one she can rely on is her greatest enemy...
1. Hunting for Friendship

**WoM- _Hello, there! I figured since Lost Love Lullaby is ending soon, 'd start another story! This one is different from my other ones. Also, I was kinda surprised no one had anything for this pairing, and decided to correct that. (Not that there will be that much romance in this story…)_**

**Unmasked**

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**Valerie:** _(After arriving in the Ghost Zone, handcuffed to Danny, and seeing Skulker)_ Ahhh! Huh? Help! Ahh! What is this place? Who's he? What's going on here?  
**Danny:** Okay, in order: this is the Ghost Zone, that's Skulker: Ghost Zone's greatest hunter, and other than _**you dislocating my shoulder**,_ we're about to be hunted like animals.

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**Chapter 1; Hunting for Friendship **

Valerie sighed in frustration as she dried her hair with a white cotton towel. The long mass of dark, wet strands clung to her face, shoulders and back, dampening the pajamas she'd chosen for the night (red drawstring pants with little white kitten on them chasing pastel yellow balls of yarn and a white tank top.). The water also made her difficult-to-manage hair wilder then usual.

"Valerie, sweetie, are you okay?" Her father said in concern, looking up from the TV when his daughter entered the living room, "You were in there for nearly an hour. I was starting to worry that you'd drowned."

"No, dad," Valerie said, flopping onto the couch, her towel around her shoulders. "I had another fight with Phantom today. The jerk knocked me into a giant pile of buttered popcorn at the movie theater and I haven't been able to get the smell out of my hair."

Damon Grey hastily ducked his head in hopes of hiding his chuckles from his daughter. Unfortunately, she caught them quite easily. All the ghost hunting had really improved her senses, to say nothing of her reflexes, agility and strength.

"What's so funny?" She asked, eyes narrowed in a challenging way.

"You always seem to end up in these sort of situations whenever you go barreling after Phantom," He chuckled, "Really, Valerie, I don't know why you find him so threatening,"

"He lost you your job, Dad!" Valerie protested at once.

_'Not to mention ruining your social life,'_ Valerie's inner voice, which sounded a lot like her benefactor, said smoothly.

"Actually, I hated that job," Damon confessed, "I may not make as much money now, but I am happier."

"Happier? How can you be happier!" Valerie asked, "You're not making half of what your old paycheck was!" Damon shrugged.

"Money isn't everything Valerie," He told her, "I have less hours now, so I have time to train myself for a career I'd be better suited in, and I can spend more time with you." Valerie huffed.

"Well, that still doesn't make Phantom any less my mortal enemy!" She told him. Damon's eyebrow kicked up in amusement.

"_'Mortal Enemy?'_" He repeated, "Valerie, don't you think you're being a little stubborn? The boy's already apologized up and down for losing my that job, and he definitely sounded sincere when he did so,"

Valerie scowled darkly when she remembered her father telling her about the ghost boy saying his life on his way to work, and even giving him the apology he'd just brought up right after doing so. At the time, she'd been very, very confused.

_'It should have been you saving your father, not him,'_ the inner voice broke in, _'And anyways, he's only trying to throw you off, deceive you. There's no way he'd save your father on his own without very good incentive. You've tried to kill him a million times…'_

"An apology doesn't make it any less his fault," Valerie said stubbornly. Damon shook his head and sighed in exasperation. This was quickly becoming an age-old argument in the Grey household, with Damon being willing to forgive and forget and Valerie clinging to the past.

"Well, you know more about the situation then I do, I suppose," Damon said diplomatically, raising and kissing his daughter on the forehead affectionately. "I'm going to bed. Don't stay up past eleven and no late night hunts. You have school in the morning," Valerie smiled.

"Don't worry, I won't be late tomorrow no matter what," Valerie promised, "We're starting swimming races tomorrow in gym," Damon shook his head at the evil grin that was plastered on his daughter's face.

"I'm guessing you're up against someone you don't like?" He smiled.

"Sam Manson," Valerie said, "She's determined to make my life miserable, so I don't mind returning the favor now and then," Valerie thought it was best not to tell her father why she and Sam were locking horns.

"Don't smoke her too badly," Damon said, "Or else others might get suspicious," Valerie rolled her eyes.

Her school was mostly filled with idiots. She could probably change right in front of 8 out of 10 of the students in the school, and they still wouldn't get that she was a ghost hunter. The other 2/10ths, however, were dangerous.

Especially the girls in that category, like Paulina (Who wouldn't hesitate to kill her if she knew Valerie was the ghost hunter trying to her precious 'Inviso-Bill,') and Sam. (who already didn't like her for a completely different reason then her ghost hunting,)

_'None of them matter. Not one of them understands the pain of being alone, of being different. And the teachers are just plain cruel. Anyways, you already know you're not going into a career that will be available at any college, why not slack on the school work a bit and find what the other students know that you don't about ghosts and such…?'_

Valerie shook that thought out of her head almost as soon as it'd entered. She wasn't sure where it'd even come from. Even with all the ghost hunting, she still wanted to get into a good college. If only because she knew it would make her dad proud.

_'Would he really be that ashamed of having a professional ghost hunter as a daughter? Especially since Amity Parks in such desperate need of competent ones such as yourself…'_

Valerie sighed. That was true enough. Jack seemed to be screwing up more then usual lately, much to Danny and Jazz's embarrassment. At the thought of her blue eyed classmate, Valerie blushed lightly.

Valerie and Danny had gotten pretty close. She still couldn't believe how much she had in common with him. Sometimes, Valerie almost wished she could tell him about the ghost hunting thing, but that would break her promise to Mr. Masters.

Mr. Masters believed in Valerie and helped her. She couldn't betray his trust, even to the son of his two closest friends. Besides, Valerie kinda got the feeling Danny and Mr. Masters didn't like each other that much.

…Well, Danny didn't like Mr. Masters. Mr. Master didn't seem to have a problem with Danny, though.

Valerie had to admit she was crushing on Danny pretty badly. She just couldn't help but to be drawn to him for some reason… it was almost like there was something about him that was familiar that she couldn't put a finger on.

And whatever it was, it was worth Sam Manson's wrath.

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"Okay, Ladies!" Testlaf barked. "Today you're being timed in a swimming race. You are to line up with your opponent, and go when you hear the whistle. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Mrs. Testlaf," All the girls chimed.

"Can we get this over with?" Paulina asked in a bored tone.

"That's enough out of you, Sanchez!" Testlaf yelled at the Latino girl, getting right into her face. "And for that, you've gotta swim an extra lap after the races!" Paulina stiffened and glared at Testlaf, muttering under her breath in Spanish as the burly woman walked away.

"Harrison, Smith!" You two are first. Everyone else, get in line next to your partner." There was a general grumble among the girls as everyone shuffled reluctantly to their spot. Even Valerie noted with some irritation that she and Sam were the last race, number eleven.

Only Star actually seemed happy, since she was up against her new best friend Paulina. Valerie couldn't help but feel a little resentment towards the girl, who'd eagerly filled her spot as a popular. She seemed to have swooped in almost overnight, taking Valerie's old friends and boyfriend in an instant.

"Not feeling bitter, are we?" Sam said smugly, taking a swig from a water bottle she'd brought to class. Valerie gave her a look.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She said as a loud whistle and splash announced Dawn Harrison and Riana Smith had started their race.

"Right," Sam scoffed, "If looks could kill, Star would be the newest ghost haunting Amity,"

_'_**That's**_ an interesting choice of words…'_ Valerie thought dryly. Out loud, she merely said, "If you think for one minute I wanna be friends with those backstabbers again, you need serious help."

"Don't trust shrinks," Sam said shortly, offering no more clarification, "And that's not what I was saying. Though I do applaud you for seeing the light. Better late then never, I suppose,"

"Is that what your gonna tell yourself when Danny starts dating another girl before you worked up the courage to confess?" Valerie grinned at Sam's scathing look, knowing she'd hit the mother load with that one.

"How many times do I have to tell you I don't like Danny that way?" Sam asked irritably. "He's my best friend, and he's been my best friend since the second grade."

"Times change," Valerie said smugly, "Though I suppose if you're really not interested, there's nothing to prevent _other girls_ from making a move…" Sam's jaw clenched and jealousy flashed through her eyes for a moment.

"_Other girls_ can go ahead, if they really want to," Sam snapped shortly, "Because I doubt she's gonna get anywhere."

"Maybe," Valerie shrugged the blow off, "It's a possibility. After all, Danny's still got the hots for Paulina," Sam glowered, crushing her water bottle in an iron grip at her fury of even having the girl mentioned in her presence. "And until he gets over that, _other girls_ are just gonna hafta sit back and be content as a friend, since they don't have much other choice," Valerie finished, more then a little amused.

Her rivalry with Sam was fun, since she was actually an interesting opponent. Whenever Valerie competed for a guys attention in the past, it was against girls like Paulina and Star. Valerie had always hated that because Paulina was sneaky and deceitful and Star was such a whiney brat that it was always easy to win against her.

Now that she actually had a guy she really liked, she also got an opponent worth fighting. It was kinda funny, in the sad, twisted way that Valerie's life now existed on ever since the stupid ghost kid and his dumb dog ruined her life.

"Besides, what makes you think _other girls_ won't have a shot once the Paulina threat factor is gone?" Valerie asked. Sam scowled at her.

"Urg!" She said in disgust. "You know what? Forget it…"

"Admitting defeat?"

"By your hands?" Sam smirked, "I don't think so,"

"Grey! Manson!" Both Valerie and Sam jumped when Testlaff yelled for them. Realizing it was there turn, they both stepped forward.

"Ready?"

"Do we have a choice?" Sam muttered, earning a dark look from Testlaff.

"Keep it up, Manson, you'll be joining Sanchez in her extra laps," the gym teacher warned. Sam made a face at the mention of Paulina, but went silent. "Ready? Set?"

_'Fweet!'_

Valerie dived, not checking if Sam was doing the same of just randomly deciding to sit it out as she normally did. Once again she found herself grateful for the ghost hunting thing, and her muscle's had been built to the point that swimming the necessary 50 meters and back was easy.

As she swam, Valerie took time to relish in the intense adrenaline that usually only came when there was a ghost around. The one that urged her to go faster, use more force, win, _win,_ **_WIN!_**

"Winner, Grey!" Testlaff said as Valerie touched the side of the pool. Panting slightly, She turned and saw that Sam was still on the return trip, a lot further then Valerie had expected but still not as good as the ghost hunter.

A little smug, Valerie climbed out of the pool and grabbed a towel. She dried herself off a bit and sat just as Sam finished up. The Goth was panting as well, in a rare show of exertion towards one of _'the stupid pointless competitions we're forced to suffer through because the school board wants to give jocks an excuse to show off.'_

Or at least, that was what Sam had called them when she refused to play tennis last semester. Personally, Valerie just thought she didn't know how.

"Congratulations, Grey," Testlaff said with an approving smile, "You've got the best time!"

Another smug smile on Valerie's part here, accompanied by a scowl from Sam.

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"Danny!" Valerie called out as she waved to her blue-eyed classmate. He grinned, waving back. Tucker and Sam, on the other hand, didn't look so enthused.

Valerie supposed it should be expected. As far as Sam was concerned, Valerie was trying to steal Danny from her. And Tucker…

Valerie actually felt bad for the way they'd broken up. It was cold, impersonal. Mostly because one of the things Valerie decided upon when she became a ghost hunter was that nobody, absolutely _nobody,_ could know. She'd been willing to date Tucker for a while, hoping that it would get her close enough to Danny to learn a few ghost hunting secrets, but decided to get away once it was obvious that Tucker didn't know anything else, and Danny wasn't gonna spill at all.

Now that she thought about it, she shouldn't be too surprised. His Mom and Dad made a living ghost hunting, and it wasn't a very respected profession (Or at least, it hadn't been.) so having someone come in who was any threat to their job probably wasn't very welcomed. After all, look what had happened to the Fenton Battlesuit.

…Though to be fair, it was a ghost that'd stolen that. Valerie brought her resentment of Phantom up another notch.

"Hey, Val," Danny said casually, as she approached, "Heard you set a new speed record in gym."

"Yeah." Valerie smirked. "Hey, where are you headed for Spring Break?"

"Jazz is taking me out to her friend's place in Florida," Danny answered, "She says I need a break from mom and dad as much as she does," Valerie smiled, once again admiring the fact that the Fenton siblings were so close. "You?"

"Ah, I'm just sticking around here," Valerie said casually, "Figured I might get some extra hours in at work," Valerie didn't mention that the job she was referring to was the one he didn't know about. (Or at least, she thought he didn't know,)

"That doesn't sound like a fun way to spend a break," Danny said, making a face. "Wanna come with me and Jazz? I could use the back up. Sam is going on a vacation with her parents in Europe and Tucker has this Tech thing." It was a tempting thought, but Valerie decided to pass.

"Thank, but I really need to get some more work in," She said regretfully. "Wanna save the offer for next vacation?"

"Sure," Danny laughed, "We'd better get to Lancer's."

"He would have to be the last hour of the day…" Tucker griped.

"Look at it this way," Sam said smiling, "At least I made an interesting collage for his project on the rewards of good friendships…" Valerie cringed, realizing she'd forgotten the project, too intent on capturing Phantom.

"Can't be as great as mine," Tucker boasted.

"Come on, guys," Danny chuckled, "I've got you both beat!" That made Valerie raise an eyebrow. When did this project turn into a competition?

"We'll see, Danny," Sam smirked, "We'll see…"

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"I call it, _'Friends Through It All!'_" Sam said as she sat in front of the classroom that was howling with laugher. Even Valerie couldn't contain her chuckles when she the fruits of Sam's labor. Tucker and Danny were both crouching so far into their seats, they were almost under the desk. However, one could still partially see the crimson glow of their faces.

Sam's collage, it turned out, was a collection of photographs the boys, with little slips taped to them giving a description of what the moment was about. Every single picture was humiliating in some way, shape or form.

"Here we have Tucker after his first bike ride. It was also the first time he lost more then three teeth at a time. And this is Danny when he lost a bet with Tucker before Halloween. That's not my dress, by the way. This is when Tucker and Danny decided it would be fun to see what would happen if they teased the lions at a local fair, and here is from when they fell asleep during a Zoo stake out. This picture will be included in the Yearbook, by the way."

"Very.. Interesting, Miss Manson," Mr. Lancer said, looking like he was having trouble keeping a straight face. "Mr. Foley, your next," Everyone giggled as a still embarrassed Tucker walked up to the front of the room, Giving Sam a feeble glare as she made her way back to her desk with a smug smile.

"Did you guys get into some kind of fight?" Valerie whispered to Danny before Sam sat down.

"Nah," Danny said casually, "It's a contest we made... We wanna see who can embarrass the other two the most."

"I see…" Valerie said, bemused. It sounded like it was one of the weird quirks of old friendships, something she wish she'd had. By chasing popularity, she missed out on a lot of the really fun things kids did when they were with good friends.

"For my project, I decided to do a little PowerPoint presentation, featuring my best friends, Sam Manson and Danny Fenton," Said best friends eyed Tucker warily. "So, without further adieu, Here's _'Tucker Foley's Top Five Things About Best Friends Featuring Photographic Proof.'_"

"That rolls off the tongue," Sam muttered. Then her eyes widened when she saw the picture Tucker had posted on the Title page. "TUCKER!"

It showed Danny and Sam, around eleven years old underneath a spring of mistletoe and kissing on the lips. The rest of the class roared with laugher at that and Sam went the darkest shade of crimson imaginable while Danny just buried his head in his arms and refused to meet anyone's eyes.

Valerie didn't laugh.

"5; Best Friends know how to break the monotony of an otherwise boring day." Tucker said, clicking on the next slide, which showed both Danny and Sam as kids (Around six) in what looked like superhero costumes chasing each other around.

"4; Best Friends have a way of always making you look good," This one showed Thirteen year old Danny fast asleep and drooling with pictures drawn all over his face in black Sharpie.

"3; Best Friends teach you more then school could ever hope to." nine year old Sam being hauled away from the Zoo kicking and screaming. In the background, you saw frantic Zoo workers scrambling to catch escaped monkeys, zebras and a lion.

"2; Best Friends can be convinced to do more stupid things then anyone else in the world," A less then enthused looking Ten year old Danny and Sam dressed up to look like aliens, including green face paint and lots of chrome.

"And 1; Best Friends never change," The whole class howled as two pictures were shown, one of Danny in the outfit Spectra made him wear for Spirit Week, and one of an even more disgruntled Sam in a very, _very_ pink dress, both around fourteen.

"And that, my friends, is my presentation." Tucker said, clicking off the computer and bowing. Danny and Sam's faces seemed to have stained permanently red.

"Well Mr. Foley, that was certainly… unusual," Mr. Lancer said, trying even harder not to laugh. "Mr. Fenton, let's see your rendition on your group's rather… amusing outlook on friendship."

"Beat that!" Tucker said smugly, sitting down.

"Don't worry," Danny said, collecting himself enough to smirk in a way that reminded Valerie of the Ghost boy for some reason. "I will." Sam and Tucker exchanged looks.

"You don't think…"

"He couldn't have had enough time to make anything too bad," Sam cut off Tucker, a shadow of doubt hinting at the corner of her voice.

"But Danny's really creative when it comes to the cruel and unusual," Tucker said, apparently catching it as well.

"Come on, Tucker," Sam sighed, "What's the worst he can do?"

"Uh, Mr. Lancer, I should probably tell you right now that I don't have any photos." Sam and Tucker relaxed, and Mr. Lancer frowned. A few of the other kids groaned in disappointment, apparently looking forward to seeing Danny's ammunition.

"You were told visual aides are required, Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer said disapprovingly.

"I know," Danny said, digging through his backpack. "That's why I brought this." He held op a video cassette for the class to see.

Sam and Tucker stiffened again.

Danny turned on the TV and popped the movie into the VCR, and after pressing play, he sat back to watch.

_"Hi,"_ Danny said on the video, _"I'm Danny Fenton, here to tell you all about Best friends. I happen to know a lot on the subject, having two of the best myself, but sometime they can get a little on the weird side."_

"**_We're_** weird?" Tucker muttered to Sam.

_"Still, that provided me with the best ammunition for _'The Best and Worst of Best Friends.'_ Well, mostly worst to be honest."_ Pause, _"Okay, it's all worst. Anyways, just watch this collection of home movies provided by Mom, Dad, Mr. and Mrs. Foley and Mr. And Mrs. Manson,"_

"Danny you didn't!" Sam said, looking comically mortified.

"Dude, you cheated!" Tucker wailed, his eyes going wide. Danny just grinned in return.

_"Let's start things off with Tucker's third birthday party, Where we first learn of his bond with technology…"_ Everyone watched three year old Tucker unwrap a present, other kids hovering nearby.

_"What is it, Tucky?" _Tucker's mother cooed. Everyone laughed loudly as Tucker buried his head in his arms. Valerie blinked when little Tucker began yelling and jumping around.

_"Cawawaor!"_ He said excitedly.

_"A calculator?" _Mr. Foley repeated as the rest of the adults (And all of Mr. Lancer's class,) laughed loudly. _"Wow! Now say thank you to Auntie Brittany."_

_"Tank you Auntie Bitney!" _Tucker sang out, earning cooing from some of the girls in the class.

_"Wasn't that adorable, Folks?"_ Danny's commentary mocked_. "You think that's cute, though, wait'll you get a load of this…"_ The scene changed to show a shaky camera shot focusing on a little girl playing by a lake.

_"Jazz!"_ Maddie Fenton called out, _"Be careful not to get too close to the edge!"_

_"I won't!"_ Jazz yelled back. Beside her, Tucker waded in to throw crumbs at some ducklings.

_"Easy, Tucker," _Jack Fenton warned, _"Those are wild animals,"_

_"They're just duckies," _Tucker said, throwing more crumbs. _"Hey! A seagull!"_ sure enough, a seagull swooped down on Tucker, making him yelp and run onto dry land.

It was too, late, though, soon a whole swarm of seagulls had dived down onto the little boy, who ran around screaming. Jack and Maddie (Still holding the camera,) both ran to help him as Danny and Jazz laughed. And the rest of the class cracked up hysterically.

_"Oh, and don't worry, Sam,"_ Danny's voice came back as the scene changed again, to show a seven year old girl in choir robes going up to a microphone, black pigtails flopping up and down as she walked, _"I haven't forgotten about you,"_

"Oh, no…" Sam said, sounding mortified.

_"Silent night, holy night,"_ Little Sam sang in a surprisingly angelic voice, _"All is calm, all is bright. Round young virgin mother and child."_ Sam started to take nervous steps back here, _"Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly pea-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_ Sam screamed, tripping over a cord someone held felt out carelessly and trying to grab onto the curtains to support herself.

All this did, though, was tear down the curtain, which landed over the rest of the children in the choir who panicked and began running every which way. In doing so, they knocked over the set they had been standing behind.

Soon, all that was onstage was a wide eyed Sam, her head partly covered by the thick red curtain.

_"And you call me a klutz…"_ Danny chuckled.

"Hey, you can't hold that against me, Danny!" Sam said, blushing "I was seven!"

_"And let's not forget the trip to Aunt Alicia's cabin…"_ Danny said, sadistic amusement clear in his face. Sam paled momentarily.

The shot went over to show Tucker battling it out with a fishing rod. Just when it looked like Tucker almost had it, the line snapped just above the bobber, oblivious to the boy's anguished cries and Danny's laugher.

To make it more amusing, though, the fish began swimming back and forward down the creek, the bobber bouncing tauntingly above the water.

_"Check it out, Tuck!"_ Danny laughed. _"It's teasing you!"_

_"Haha," _Tucker said sourly, glaring at the bobber as it stopped in front of the cabin. Just then, Sam came out in a dark violet one piece and faded black shorts. Tucker grinned when he saw her. _"Hey, Sam! Think you can do me a favor?" _He asked, pointing to the bobber. _"My line came undone, can you get it for me?"_ Sam rolled her eyes.

_"You're gonna have to learn to swim one of these days, Tucker,"_ Sam called back. Still, oblivious to what had just transpired, Sam waded into the water and carefully over to where the bobber floated innocently.

_"Uh… It's not moving,"_ Danny said, confused as Sam came within reach of the bobber. _"Think the fish got off?"_

_"Maybe…" _Tucker shrugged and Sam lifted the bobber. Then, without warning, loud, furious splashing began right in front of the girl.

**_"KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_** She screamed, alarmed. Despite the fact that it'd taken her two minutes to wade over to the bobber, she was out of the water in three seconds.

_"Nope,"_ Danny said as Tucker began rolling on the floor with laugher. Sam, still a little shaken, heard this and turned to glare at Tucker.

_"You jerk!"_ She yelled, going red in anger and embarrassment.

_"S-Sorry!" _Tucker gasped, _"I didn't think… Oh, man!"_ Tucker dissolved into more peals of laugher, Mr. Lancer and his class not too far behind him. Sam scowled at him. _"Seriously, though I didn't think that would happen,"_

_"Hmph,"_ Sam snorted, turning to go back into the house for a towel.

_"Hey, Sam?"_

_"What?"_ Sam snapped, turning to glare at Tucker.

_"Think you can go back out? You didn't get my bobber…"_ Tucker yelped as the girl dived for him, running as fast as his legs could carry him.

_"Well, there you have it,"_ Danny said, grinning onto the camera as the last scene ended, _"My two best friends in the world. Is it any wonder I'm the way I am?"_

"Hey!" Tucker and Sam said as one. Danny grinned playfully at them.

"Very nice, Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer chuckled, wiping his eyes. "Very amusing." Then, before anything else could be said, the bell rang, and all the students made a mad dive for the door.

All except one, that is.

"Miss Grey, May I have a moment of your time?" Mr. Lancer called as the girl passed his desk. Valerie winced as she turned, knowing this wasn't going to end well…

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**WoM- _There you have it! That last one with the fish is not (Unfortunately,) A creation of my imagination, but an actual and extremely embarrassing event that happened to me at the tender age of ten (I was the one playing Sam's part.) Is it any wonder I despise swimming? 'rolls eyes' Read and Review!_**

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**Next update; **_December 12th_

_**See you then!**_


	2. Hunting for Patience

**WoM- 'Laughing,' _It's great that this story got such a positive response! Here's the second chapter, I hope you guys enjoy it as much as you did the first! Oh, and for everyone who's interested, I've started a new C2. It's called _Hunter Girl_, and it's for Valerie. I've invited a few of you who I thought might be interested to join, and everyone else is welcome if they want to sign up. She needs all the support she can get from her fans!_**

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**Danny:** _(After seeing Valerie hiding under table next to him)_ Find your own hiding spot. I've got dibs on under the nerds playing nerd poker.  
**Valerie:** Ease up, Fenton. You're not the only one who needs to hide, you know.  
**Nathan:** _(Holding picture of Valerie)_ Valerie, where are you! There's only three years until senior prom! Why won't you say yes!

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**Chapter 2; Hunting for Patience**

"Yes, Mr. Lancer?" Valerie said as she stood awkwardly by her teacher's desk. Lancer frowned at her, worry shining in his eyes.

"I've been meaning to speak with you for a while, Miss Grey," he started, "I've become concerned about you lately."

"I'm fine, Mr. Lancer," Valerie said at once.

"Are you?" Lancer pressed, "This year you started off as one of my best students. Then your grades took a decline, you stopped handing homework in… I understand that you need your after school job, but if it's really cutting into your schoolwork so much, perhaps you should reconsider your responsibilities to yourself and your father and cut back on your hours or quit, so you can focus on your homework a bit more," Then, in a dry voice, Mr. Lancer added, "Unless you want to work at Nasty Burger for the rest of your life…" Valerie couldn't stop her flinch here.

"I'd love to, Mr. Lancer, but I can't," She said honestly, "I need the money,"

"More then you need a good education?" Mr. Lancer shot back. Then he sighed. "Valerie, you're a bright girl, I know that and so do you, but no self-respecting college will take in a student that doesn't look good on paper."

"I'll work harder, Mr. Lancer," Valerie promised.

"Hard work isn't the problem. You work hard enough," Mr. Lancer scolded, "And it may be too late. The project you were supposed to present today was worth 40 of your grade for this semester. A 40 you needed to pass, by the way." Valerie's heart skipped a beat.

"I didn't know it was worth that much!" Valerie exclaimed.

"Yes, well I believe you were in the bathroom when the class was told," Lancer sighed thoughtfully. "Miss Sanchez promised to fill you in later…" Valerie fumed silently at that, not doubting the Latino had done it on purpose as retribution for their latest Phantom good/evil argument.

Still, it was partially her fault too. She was the one skipping class to hunt ghosts, after all. When ghosts came to school, there was always more of a chance of Phantom showing up, so nothing in this world, Lancer's project included, could keep her from chasing the ghosts down.

_'Nor should it,'_ The voice came back, as it always did when she was stressed or confused. _'What's more important, the lives of innocent people, including your father, and a chance for revenge or a mere English project?'_

"She never told me." Valerie said, working to keep accusation out of her tone. She didn't want to sound like a whiney little tattle tale. After all, she could handle it…

"That's beside the point though, Valerie," Mr. Lancer aid sternly, "You've still had ample opportunity to ask me any questions and work on your project." Valerie shifted. She hated it when teacher pulled that _'Your responsibility is your own'_ crap. As far as she was concerned, she had enough responsibilities as it was.

_'You don't need him chastising you for saving his life. Let him know you have everything under control.'_

"I didn't think of that and I'm sorry," Valerie said shortly. "Thank you for your concern, Mr. Lancer, but if that's all you wanted to tell me…"

"Actually, it isn't," Mr. Lancer said, stopping her, "I was wondering, Miss Grey, if you were interested in some extra credit."

"What kind of extra credit?" Valerie asked, pushing the voice back as it protested.

"If you complete this one little task, it will be as if you received an 84 on your project." Lancer answered. Valerie blinked. A B? A B was good. **_Very_** good. "But-"

"I'll do it!" Valerie cut him off, "I don't care what it is, I'll do it!" Mr. Lancer looked startled at her vigor, then smiled.

"Very good, Miss Grey," He said, standing up, "follow me," Valerie did so, finding the halls eerily quiet in their presently abandoned state.

"So, what is this project, anyways?" Valerie asked, "A book report? A thesis paper?" She shuddered a little at the thought of the latter.

"No, nothing like that." Mr. Lancer assured her. "Though you may wish it were," Valerie frowned, not liking the sound of that. Mr. Lancer smiled at her grimly as he opened the door to the teacher's lounge.

**_"Uncle Ritchiiiiiiiiiie!"_** A loud voice that had the teenage girl cringing whined. _"What **TOOK** you so long!"_ Valerie blinked.

Standing in front of her, pouting for all she was worth was a younger girl. She looked to be around nine or ten, with her shoulder length black hair done up in a side ponytail and glittery flower burettes. She wore a dark blue shirt that read ANGEL in a curly, glittery yellow script and flair bottom blue jeans with baby blue and white shoes.

Her green eyes flashed angrily at the overweight bald English teacher, who sighed and cringed ever so slightly.

"Sorry, Heather," He said in a slightly pained voice, "I was merely held up for a bit…" Heather ignored him after the apology, Valerie's presence catching her attention.

"Who's she?" Heather demanded. Before Valerie could answer, a suddenly very happy Mr. Lancer cut her off.

"This Heather, is Miss Valerie Grey," He told the girl, "She's a student of mine, and she'll be watching you as I attend The Annual Teacher Spring Bash,"

Heather blinked. Valerie blinked. And together, their voices raised in one stunned, angry protest.

**"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"**

_**

* * *

**_

"God, are you done here yet?"

Valerie scowled at the girl through the mask of the Nasty Ned Mascot. Heather scowled right back, even though she didn't see Valerie's expression.

"Look, I don't get off work for another hour, okay?" She snapped, "Now shut up and sit still!"

"Because it's really so much fun to watch an older girl make an idiot of herself knowing you have to spend an entire weekend with her…" Heather muttered, slouching in her seat outside the Nasty Burger. Valerie shot the girl an evil look.

They hadn't been together on their own for two hours yet, and already neither girls could stand one another. Valerie still couldn't believe she'd been tricked into doing this so easily by her teacher…

_"But Mr. Lancer, I can't baby-sit your niece!" She protested. Heather turned her glare from her uncle to the older girl._

_"BABY-SIT?" She hissed, glowering at Valerie. "I'm nine and a half, I don't NEED to be baby-sat! Especially not by someone like YOU!"_

_"Girls!" Mr. Lancer said loudly, getting their attention, "You have to understand, Miss Grey, that I'm responsible for the entertainment on the Weekend getaway to Bluff Peek Beach. My sister sent Heather down last minute, and it will be impossible for me to get her a ticket last minute."_

_"I don't need to be baby-sat!" Heather repeated louder, "I'm nine and a half, I can take care of myself just fine, Uncle Ritchie!"_

_"You're not staying on your own for an entire weekend." Mr. Lancer dismissed at once._

_"A weekend?" Valerie repeated, "Mr. Lancer, I have work!"_

_"Take Heather with you," Mr. Lancer reasoned, "It will be good for her to see how hard work pays off. Who knows, you may both learn something from each other."_

_"But Mr. Lancer-!"_

_"If I raise it to a B+ will you do it, Valerie?" Valerie faltered, then glanced at the girl._

_"…Make it an A and we've got a deal," She said firmly._

_"A-," Mr. Lancer bargained._

_"Deal," Valerie sighed._

_"Excellent," Mr. Lancer smiled, "Her bags are in the car. I'll drive you two to your house, Valerie." Valerie glanced at the clock and bit back a curse._

_"Uh, actually, can you take us straight to the Nasty Burger?" She asked him._

_"Very well," Mr. Lancer smiled. "Like I said, I think you two may learn something from one another…"_

_'…I should've stuck it out for an A,' _Valerie thought sourly as she took her break, _'That's the only thing that MIGHT be worth this kind of embarrassment…'_

"Having fun?" a familiar voice asked teasingly. Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Haha, Danny," She said dryly, "Any chance you could kill me and end the suffering?" Danny laughed.

"That bad a day, huh?" He said, sitting across from her. Valerie rolled her eyes.

"You have NO idea…" She grumbled, glaring out the window to the outside, where Heather was still sitting.

"Then I guess it's a good thing I caught you," Danny grinned, "Remember when we had to do that lame obstacle course in Gym together?" He asked. Valerie smiled slightly, remembering the three-legged obstacle course he was referring to.

"Of course," She answered. "We finished first, and Sam and Tucker got tangled in the climbing net and Paulina nearly killed Dash for making her break a nail." Valerie was almost surprised at how easy it was to work with Danny on that. They seemed to be able to read off of each other and work together, much like she and the Ghost boy had when facing Skulker.

"Good memories, but not what I where I was going with that," Danny said, bemused, "I was talking about what we were talking about during the course." Valerie frowned, trying to remember. "We found out we both like Linkin Park," Danny supplied.

"Oh, yeah!" Valerie said. Then she raised an eyebrow. "What's that got to do with anything?" Danny slid an envelope across the table, and Valerie opened it and gasped. "These… These are…"

"Tickets for the concert." Danny said triumphantly. Then he made a face. "And you have _no idea_ how hard it was to get them." Valerie screamed in delight, throwing her arms around a very surprised Danny.

_"Thank you, thank you, thank you!"_ She said happily. Then, she backed away. "But what about Tucker and Sam?" She didn't want to mention the two, not now, but she absolutely had to know.

"Sam already left," Danny said, "And Tucker's gonna be gone tomorrow afternoon, and since the concerts at eight…" Danny shrugged, "Besides, it'll be fun to do something with just the two of us for once." Valerie couldn't contain her glee. A concert with Danny AND no Sam and Tucker glaring at her the whole time? **_Score!_** "So? Can you come?"

"I-!" Valerie stopped dead, her smile melting as Heather stormed into the Nasty Burger. She sighed mournfully, "I can't," Danny looked surprised and a little hurt, so Valerie quickly amended that with, "It's not that I don't _want_ to, it's just…"

"Look, If I'm gonna have to sit here alone, we better be doing something fun later!" Heather snapped, interrupting her. Valerie glared at her like she was the cause of everything miserable that'd ever happened to her. Which actually would be an honest interpretation if by _'entire life'_ you went by the last two hours.

"Danny, Heather," Valerie said in monotone, "Heather, Danny. I've got to watch her for the weekend, Danny. Sorry,"

"That's okay," Danny said, giving her a reassuring smile.

"Can you find someone else to go?" Valerie pressed. Danny shrugged.

"Like I said, Sam and Tuck are gone, Jazz hates any music that was made after 1990 and I doubt anyone else around here would be interested." He said. Valerie flinched.

"Sorry…" She repeated guiltily.

"You look familiar…" Heather said to Danny, frowning at him. "Do I know you from somewhere?" Danny shook his head.

"Don't think so," He said, looking puzzled.

"Danny's in your uncle's class with me," Valerie said shortly, irritated at having to include the girl in the conversation.

"Uncle?" Danny repeated blankly.

"Mr. Lancer," Valerie clarified. Danny flinched.

"Lancer's **_niece_**?" He said incredulously to Heather, "Ouch. Bet you've gotten dusty books no one's ever heard of for ever Christmas and Birthday since the beginning of time." Heather smiled.

"Yep!" She said wryly. "And **_THEN_** he goes and sticks me with _her _while he's off vacationing on a beach!" Valerie and Heather glared at each other, making Danny laugh.

"Well, I better go before Jazz calls out the National Guard," he said as he stood, "I told her I'd only be a few minutes, so she's probably going crazy right now… Nice to meet you, Heather. And Valerie?" The girl tore her eyes away from the nine year old to look at her friend, "Keep the ticket. Who knows, you might be able to come after all…"

"But…" Danny gave her a pointed look as she started to protest, and she could tell that it would be a fruitless battle. "…Thanks Danny," she smiled.

"Later!" Danny said as he left.

"Bye, Danny!" Heather sang, waving to him furiously as he left. "Wow, how'd a girl like _you_ score such a nice boyfriend?"

And just like that, Valerie's good mood was gone.

"First off, Danny's just a friend," Valerie snapped, _'I'm working on the boyfriend part,' _"And second, what's **THAT** to mean?"

"You figure it out," Heather smirked.

"Yo, Grey!" The assistant manager called, "Breaks over, get back in costume!" Valerie glared as Heather's smirk widened.

_'Forget what I said before.'_ She thought sourly to herself, _'NO grade is worth this…'_

_**

* * *

**_

"Home sweet home…" Valerie sighed as she entered her apartment, flopping down on the couch.

"What a dump!" Heather said, disgusted. Valerie didn't have the energy to turn and glare at the girl, so she scowled at the pillow her face was buried into. "Well, guess I should've expected as much…"

The ghost hunter mumbled something into the pillow many cultures would consider obscene.

Heather was starting to make her very, **_very_** happy that she was an only child, with no cousins or even any family besides her dad. And she was also seriously reconsidering her choice of getting married and having a family when she was older. Maybe she could just get a cat or something…

_"Cool!"_ Valerie blinked as she heard Heather breath that word. Cool? What was cool? They didn't have anything in the house a kid might consider cool, except for…

_…Oh, no…_

"Heather?" Valerie leapt up, all her exhaustion gone in a heartbeat. She paled when she saw her bedroom door (which had been shut when she left for school,) wide open.

Valerie lunged forward, her eyes going wide when she found Heather staring down the barrel of one of her smaller ecto-guns. Acting on instinct, Valerie grabbed the girl away and pulled her from the weapon, just as it misfired into the wall.

**_"Don't touch that!"_** Valerie yelled, "Don't touch **_ANYTHING_** in my room! More then that, forget you were ever in here!" Heather rolled her eyes.

"Why should I?" She asked defiantly.

"Because I said so and I'm four feet taller then you and in a very, VERY bad mood!" Valerie said, "You've ruined my break enough as it is, I don't need you telling everyone I'm a ghost hunter!" Heather brightened.

"So THAT'S what all this stuff is!" She said loudly, "I thought they were toys or something… Hey! That's Phantom!" Valerie didn't hear Heather's squeal as she rushed to mess with the stuff on Valerie's desk, too stunned to stop her. She suddenly felt like a total idiot… "Wow, you've got a lot of pictures of Phantom…" That had Valerie taking a deep breath to try and calm herself before she did something that completely blew her English grade to Hell.

"Because he's my mortal enemy," She snapped, grabbing the picture the girl was holding, _"And didn't I say not to touch my stuff?"_

"How can he be your mortal enemy if he's a ghost?" Heather asked, "Ghosts are **dead**, therefore they've lost all mortality."

"Has anyone ever told you how much you need a life?" Valerie asked dryly as she replaced the picture.

"Like you can talk?" Heather countered, giggling at one picture she found of Phantom among the clutter on Valerie's desk. "Can I have this one? The other girls in the Phan Club would go nuts if they saw this…" She held up a picture Valerie had taken of Phantom leaning against a wall, smirking as something off in the distance.

"NO!" Valerie said, grabbing the picture away, "Do you have any idea how hard these are to take?" Then, she blinked, fully deciphering what Heather had just said, "Wait… Fan Club? What Fan Club?" Heather sighed in annoyance.

"Not Fan, F-A-N," She said as if she found Valerie dumb, "P-H-A-N. It's a Fan Club for Danny Phantom. He's so cool!" This last part was accompanied with much giggling and a day dreamy look.

…Just when Valerie thought she couldn't hate the girl any more…

"He's a ghost," Valerie snapped, "And a menace. And since when was there a _Phan Club_?"

"Whatever," Heather shrugged. "And the Phan Club's been around for a while now. The President and Phantom's self-acclaimed Number One Fan made it a long time ago, and it got more and more popular as he showed up more often in Amity. I don't even live here and I'm still a member…"

"But any chance would this president be named Paulina Sanchez?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Call it a lucky guess…" Valerie sighed. Was there anything worst then being stuck with a nine year old brat who had a crush on her archenemy, missing some one-on-one time with Danny AND having her secret revealed to someone outside of her family?

_'Bee-Bee-Bee-Bee!'_

…Valerie mentally kicked herself for not knowing any better.

"What's that?" Heather asked curiously, reaching for the beeping device.

"_Give_ me that!" Valerie yelled, "And for the last time, _Don't touch **ANYTHING!**_" And, with one last glare at the girl, Valerie turned her Ghost Radar on.

"State the Nature of the Disturbance," She order it sharply, trying to ignore Heather's eyes on her. There were a few louder beeping noises as the Radar worked to see if it was truly Valerie's voice.

_"Voice matched. Hello, Valerie. Two ghosts detected at South by South-west, 2.54 miles." _The device responded in a soothing voice.

"Identify Targets," Valerie commanded.

_"Ghost 1; Box Ghost; Level 1 Threat."_ Valerie sighed in disappointment_… "Ghost 2; Danny Phantom Level 9 Threat,"_ …Which quickly turned into a predatory grin.

"I've gotta go!" She called to Heather.

"Me too, me too!" Heather squealed. "I wanna see Phantom!"

"No way," Valerie answered point blank. "You're staying here." Heather scowled before smiling.

"Alright," She said, picking up a phone, "I guess I'll just have to call Uncle Ritchie and tell him about your little side job. I'm sure he'll find it **_VERY_** interesting." Valerie froze as she heard the girl start to dial numbers.

"You wouldn't…" She said, narrowing her eyes at the girl. Heather's grin widened.

"Hey Uncle Ritchie!" She said happily as the other end picked up, "It's Heather! Guess what?"

"Alright, alight!" Valerie agreed quickly, panicking, "You can come!"

"I'm having lots of fun with Valerie! You were right, we're learning lots about each other!" Heather finished. "Gotta go, she's taking me out to meet one of her friends. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. I will. Bye!" Valerie glared at the girl as she hung up the phone, looking very satisfied with herself.

"Spoiled brat…" She grumbled as she pushed the button to change into her ghost hunting gear.

"Cool outfit," Heather said, genuinely impressed. Valerie ignored her, triggering her jet sled.

"Let's go," She said, "It won't take Phantom long to get the Box Ghost, and we're wasting time!" Without any signed of hesitation, Heather jump on behind Valerie and secured a grip around her waist, and Valerie took off out her open window, grumbling all the way about evil ghosts and spoiled brats.

_**

* * *

**_

Valerie was pleased to see that she had indeed managed to catch up with her target just as Phantom finished sucking the Box Ghost into the Fenton Thermos. How he'd stolen it from the Fentons she had no idea, but seeing it and knowing he HAD stolen it only fueled her anger towards him.

Enough that she _'accidentally misfired'_ at his head.

Fortunately, (Or unfortunately, depending on your point of view,) Danny had battled a great deal of ghost hunters in his time as Public Ghost Enemy Number 1, and knew the sounds of a charging and firing ecto-gun from a mile away, so he instinctively went intangible before the blast had even cleared the barrel. Recognizing he had a new, greater threat to deal with, Phantom turned to face her, then faltered.

"I see you brought company…" He said, blinking in shock at Heather, who grinned back widely.

"Nice to meet you!" She called out to him, "I'm Heather Grannis, and I've been a huge fan for a long, long time!"

"Save it, Heather," Valerie snapped, "And get off! I might've had to bring you along, but you are NOT getting into this fight,"

"Like I'd want to," Heather said, stepping off to the roof, "Phantom's gonna wipe the floor with you," The ghost in question grinned at that.

"I think I like her…" He said, clearly amused.

"That makes one of us." Valerie countered, "But now that she's out of the way…" Valerie trailed off, finishing her sentence with an ecto-blast Danny had to shoot into the air to avoid. Valerie trailed after him, firing her gun all the way, but Phantom just stayed on the defensive until Valerie left an opening on her left side.

The ghost took advantage of this before she could correct the mistake, firing an energy blast at her. Valerie screamed as she lost control of her jet sled, which took a nosedive. She managed to regain control before she had a painful encounter with Mr. Cement, twisting around so she was facing Danny again, blasting him with her ecto-cannon. She actually caught him off-guard this time and the hit connected, sending him down.

Valerie was hovering above where the boy had fallen when a slim, shiny black box with the insignia CW on it caught her eye. Hesitating only for a moment, Valerie took to the ground and picked the box up.

The box was heavy despite being so small, and second it touched her hands Valerie felt a strange power hum in her veins. It sent chills up her spine, and she was instantly captivated. Her curiosity got the best of her, and she began to trace her thumbs along the edge of the lid…

"Give a guy some warning why don't you?" Valerie jumped at Phantom's sudden statement, wheeling to meet him, the spell that held her captivated breaking instantly. Phantom's sour face paled even more when he saw the box in her hands as she turned. "How did you-?" Phantom twisted to look at his backpack and groaned when he saw the top undone.

"What, this yours?" Valerie said, smirking.

"No," He said shortly, "It's a friends, and he needs it back."

"Too bad for him," Valerie said.

"I'm serious, Valerie!" Phantom said impatiently, "That thing is dangerous for you! Just put it down and walk away before you get hurt."

"And why should I trust you?" Valerie demanded, "I can take care of myself!"

"Maybe you should listen to him," Heather said, frowning as she came alongside Valerie. She'd headed down from the roof after Danny's fall, and came out just in time to hear what was going on, "He knows more about it then you do,"

"Tell me what it is first," Valerie ordered, "Then I might consider it," Danny sighed irritably.

"It's a Ambiguity in Time," Danny said grimly, "And like I said before, it's dangerous."

"What does it do?" Valerie asked, her suspicious tone never faltering.

"I don't know," Danny gritted out, "No one does, not even Clockwork. That's what makes it so dangerous."

"If you don't know, how can you be so sure it's dangerous?" Valerie asked defiantly. She ran her thumbs along the side of the box again, watching Danny's eyes widen.

**"Don't!" **He shouted. "Clockwork doesn't know what it is, but he does know a bad Ambiguity from a good one,"

"I think you're lying," Valerie accused, "I bet you stole this from some poor human."

"Why would I steal a _box_?" Danny asked in exasperation.

"Why would you steal the Fenton Thermos?" Valerie countered.

"I didn't steal this!" Danny said defensively.

"And I suppose Jack Fenton just gave it to you?" Valerie asked sarcastically, watching the ghost shift from one foot to the other.

"…Uhh…" Disgust, confidence and pure defiance made Valerie do the most foolish thing she'd ever done in not only her career as a ghost hunter, but also her life.

She opened the box.

**_"No!"_** Danny yelled as the lid came off. Heather screamed and stiffened, shielding herself as if she thought monsters would leap from the small black box.

Moments passed with nothing happening. Valerie's grin widened under her mask as Danny look dumbfounded and Heather started to relax.

"See?" She said triumphantly, "I knew you where just-!"

That's when there was a bright flash of red light, cutting off the ghost hunter before she could finish.

_**

* * *

**_

**WoM- _Ah, Valerie, have you learned nothing from poor Pandora…?_ 'sighs' _Next chapter is where things get really interesting. Danny, Valerie and Heather have to fight for their lives in the Ambiguity and try to find a way home before Valerie's mistake comes back to haunt her in a different way then the ghosts she catches._**

**_I'm gonna have lots and lots of fun with Heather in this story._ 'laughs evilly,' _I firmly believe we all have a Heather we know and are forced to be in contact with in various circumstances. For me she comes in the form of a spoiled cousin I've come close to strangling on many, many occasions. _'grumbles to herself'_ One of these days, he'll get what's coming to him…_**

_**

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**_

**Thanks to;**

epobbp

Ginger Guardian Angel

Tetsukon

SummersSixEcho

Rosadina formerly Tima

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet

phantomgirl07

happyendingsmaybe

Sqweakie the Wonder Mouse

kinguofdoragons

Evilevergreen

CelloSolo2007

My Eternal Facade

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**_

**Next update;** _December 19th_

_**See you then!**_


	3. Hunting for Answers

**WoM- _Ah, it's good being on break… _'giggling happily,' _This is the first Monday I've been able to sleep through in a long time! A lot of people seem to like Heather._ 'snickers' _What is it about evil children that people are so drawn to? Here's the third chapter, enjoy!_**

* * *

**Valerie:** _(To Danny)_ So, Tucker tells me your parents hunt ghosts.  
**Danny:** Did he now? What _else_ did he tell you?

* * *

**Chapter 3; Hunting for Answers**

Valerie moaned, pain coursing throughout her body. She couldn't remember how or why she was hurt or pretty much anything else, but deep down, she knew she was in trouble. The pounding in the back of her head, the dizziness… none of those were good signs.

She heard her moan echoed on her left, and felt an icy cold hand touch the sides of her head so softly, she almost wondered for a second if she was delusional. That's when it all started to come back to her.

Heather. The fight with Phantom. The box…

"**_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH_**!" Valerie screamed, shooting up. Phantom yelped and fell back in surprise at her abrupt awakening. Valerie was too shaken to even be angry with him for hovering over her when she was unconscious.

It turned out Heather was indeed on her left, still knocked out from whatever had hit the three of them.

"What happened?" Valerie demanded, "How long have I been out? Why does my head hurt?"

"Talk about Déjà vu…" Phantom muttered dryly. "Well, at least there's no power-blocking handcuffs this time…"

"Are you gonna answer me or not?" Valerie yelled, glaring at the ghost.

"Alright! Alright!" Phantom held his hands in front of him in a compliant gesture. "But we should probably see if Heather's okay first. She's just a kid, and to take that kind of blast of energies…" Valerie frowned as the ghost approached her charge.

"I'll do it!" She said, standing in front of her foe. Phantom raised an eyebrow at her.

"You know how to check for abnormalities in a person's psyche due to supernatural energies?" He asked in a tone that said he already knew the answer.

"…Uhh…"

"Thought not," And with that, Phantom flew literally through Valerie to crouch down beside the young girl. Valerie scowled darkly at his back.

"Stupid know-it-all spook…" She grumbled.

"Oxymoron," Phantom said, not turning to face her as he put both gloved hands on Heather's temples, closing his eyes.

"You're a moron alright…" Valerie shot back. Phantom didn't respond, but Heather moaned again before shooting up in a similar way to what Valerie had done, only she was couching and sputtering instead of screaming.

"Easy…" Phantom said, putting a hand on her back, "You okay?"

"My tummy hurts," she moaned, putting a hand on her stomach. She looked near tears in pain.

"It's a rebound pain." Phantom explained, turning so he was talking Valerie as well, "Jumping dimensions is difficult for humans, so when they come to they end up with a physical pain. The place that hurts and how much depends on the person."

"Can you stop it?" Heather asked. Phantom frowned.

"I have the power," he said hesitantly. "But I don't have it under control yet, so I'd rather not risk it. It'll go away on it's own after you get used to this place."

"What makes you think I wanna stick around long enough to get used to it?" Valerie demanded. "Where is this place, anyways?" Valerie looked around her wide-eyed, a horrified chill sweeping down her spine as she fully took in her surroundings.

She'd never seen anything like the place she was in now. It even topped the Ghost Zone as far as creepy exotic places go. Plant life unlike anything she'd ever seen grew thickly around them in all sorts of strange colors, none of which were the usual green. Even the mossy, grass-like plants beneath her boots were a deep, blood red. Also, there was the fact that vines in her world usually didn't move…

She could barely see a lavender sky above them through the multi-colored foliage, spotted with orange clouds. The sun was still a burning yellow, but there were two of them, almost side by side. One was far bigger then the other, and a little darker in it's color.

Just as creepy as the plants and sky were the few animals the ghost hunter saw. Most of them were small vivid yellow things, a cross between a bird, a iguana and a spider, but there were also ones that looked like huge green cat/frogs and a few bat/snakes as well…

Valerie screamed and stumbled back as one of the bat/snakes flew at her face.

"We're inside the Ambiguity," Phantom answered her, "Apparently we were lucky enough that it was a Class B Ambiguity."

"Huh?" Valerie said, raising an eyebrow.

"There are two classes of Ambiguities," Phantom explained, Class A disrupt the dimension they were opened on by merging it with their own dimension, or destroying it all together. Class Bs with take all people within a ten feet radius of the box when it's opened and bring them to the dimension the Ambiguity was created on."

"This is all your fault!" Heather said accusingly, glaring at Valerie.

"MY fault?" Valerie glowered. "How is this my fault?"

"You opened that Stupid box!" Heather reminded her, "Danny told you not to open it! I wanted you to listen to him but you had to be a stupid, stubborn-!"

"We've got bigger problems now," Phantom sighed.

"How do we get back home?" Valerie asked, feeling a little guilty. On some level, she knew this was in fact her fault. And now all three of them were trapped far from home in a world that looked nothing like their own.

"I don't know," Phantom admitted.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Valerie demanded, glaring at the ghost, "You have to know! It was your stupid box!"

"I keep telling you, I was getting it back for my friend!" Phantom glared, "The Ghost Council has forbidden him from coming to the Mortal realm after he broke a rule about temporal displacement or whatever…"

"Then how do we get back?" Heather asked helplessly.

"I don't know," Phantom sighed, then he frowned in determination, "But I'm gonna find out!" And with that, he stood looking around him. "We should probably try to find some kind of civilization. I might not know the way out, but Clockwork did tell me that there's an immortal contact on each level of existence that meet the others in the Eternal every ten thousand years to see how everything's changed and evolved. He's the one for our world, and since I still have Clockwork's mark, the one here should listen to us at the very least…"

"Mark?" Valerie repeated, a little confused.

"It's a symbol of guardianship," Phantom explained, holding his right hand out palm down. "Basically, when you see the mark on someone it means that a supernatural being is protecting him. And if you hurt or kill the person in question, the guardian is obligated to take action. On the flip side, though, helping them means their guardian is indebted to you,"

"So this Clockwork guy's your backup?" Valerie said, suddenly wary. How powerful was this ghost? And would he hurt her when she beat Phantom? As if reading her mind, Phantom quickly added.

"I've already asked him to let me handle things myself. Clockwork knows I can fight my own battles. Really, the Mark is just a symbol of deep trust and loyalty."

"Have you given the mark to anyone?" Heather asked.

"Just three people," Phantom answered, "All human,"

"As interesting as this is," Valerie said in a cool tone, "shouldn't we get started on finding our way back?" Phantom looked sheepish.

"Oh," he said meekly, "Right…" He hovered a few inches off the ground, "Wait here for a second, I'm gonna see which way it is to the nearest town or whatever…" Before Valerie and Heather could protest, the ghost flew straight up, going intangible to get through the… well, Valerie supposed the closest term for them was 'leaves…'

* * *

The two girls sat in an awkward silence after the ghost disappeared from view. Heather shot Valerie a Nasty look every one in a while as Valerie wondered numbly why her headache was getting worse. After a while, though, the silence was broken.

"It's still all your fault…" Heather muttered sullenly.

Don't you think I know that?" Valerie snapped, "Look, I'm sorry for getting us into this mess, but these kinds of dangers come with my profession! That's why I wanted you to stay where it was safe!"

"Then why'd you open the box?" Heather shot back. "If you were so worried about my safety, you should've kept it closed."

"That's none of your business," Valerie said shortly. She wasn't about to explain the origins of her feud with Phantom to her nine year old charge. Remembering who the girl was, she added, "And not a word of this to your uncle when we get back home, you hear?" Heather rolled her eyes.

"And why shouldn't I say anything?" She asked defiantly. "You're putting my life at risk by sucking me into alternate dimensions, after all…"

"You BLACKMAILED me to force me to bring you!" Valerie reminded her, glowering.

"Not my fault you're dense enough to be tricked by someone who's five years younger then you," Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Thought you were nine and a half?" She countered, earning a glare from the girl.

"Okay, I think we'll be okay if we- Uhh, girls?" Phantom seemed hesitant to break up the girl's glowering match, his gaze darting between the two uncertainly.

"It's nothing," Valerie snapped, "What were you saying?"

"There was smoke coming from a large clearing the north," the ghost explained. At least, It would be the north in our world judging from the sun… ah, suns." Phantom shrugged helplessly, "There's no telling how much things have changed in this realm when you compare it to ours, so there's no clear way to put it,"

"We'll just have to wing it, then," Valerie said, activating her jet sled, "Heather, get on. Ghost-boy, we need you to get us through the trees so we can fly above them. It'll be faster then walking." While she hated relying on Phantom for anything, Valerie knew he was her only hope for getting out of this dimension.

"Don't boss me around!" Heather scowled, "I wanna fly with Phantom!" Before Valerie could respond, the ghost in question shook his head.

"That may not be a good idea, Heather," He told the girl, "If we run into anything, it'll be hard for me to fight if I'm holding you. Going with Valerie leaves both of us with our hands free, so that's probably for the best."

"You think we'll find something we need to fight?" Valerie asked, tensing. She wasn't sure how well ecto-guns worked on the inhabitants of this world.

"Can't say," Phantom shrugged. "But we still wanna be careful, right?"

"I guess…" Heather said sullenly, getting on the jet sled behind Valerie.

"Everybody ready for take off?" Phantom asked, hovering next to the two, "Alright then!" And with that, Phantom placed one icy hand on Valerie's shoulder, turning her, the jet sled and Heather all intangible.

The ghost hunter shot up, and Phantom matched her speed without faltering, keeping that one hand on her shoulder as they rose higher and higher. When they broke past the trees the ghost released his rival, allowing them to turn tangible again as he did the same in turn.

"This way," Phantom said, his spectral trail tailing behind him as he flew in the direction he was pointing. "It should be about an hour, two hours tops flying…"

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Valerie asked, shooting forward. Phantom once again matched her speed without any signs of strain, and Valerie found herself suppressing the childish urge to go faster and try and either outrun him or tire him out.

"So, Phantom-!" Heather yelled to the ghost over the roar of the wind and the whirling of the jet sled's motors, "-Do you have a girlfriend or something?" Phantom looked a little surprised at the question, and Valerie couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Uhh, no," The ghost answered, looking awkward and embarrassed. It was almost cute…

Valerie promptly gave herself a sharp mental kick for thinking that.

"I don't even have that many friends. I'm not exactly the most popular guy on either sides of the living and dead," Phantom finished, "The only girl who's ever really liked me is Paulina, and that's just because she wants to live a fairy tale life…"

Valerie had to admit (Rather begrudgingly,) that she admired the boy's sharp eye for the true source of his biggest fan's affections. Still she couldn't help but roll her eyes as well.

She didn't know what world he was living in, but she saw the whole good/evil situation differently. To her, far too many people were arguing Phantom's innocence. Even the poll at the end of the big attack when the city was drawn into the ghost zone showed more people thought he was good then bad.

But maybe that was because she wanted everyone to think Phantom was evil, so she only ever really heard those who defended him, and Phantom wanted people to think he was good, so he only heard the slander and insults. Perhaps they had the same mentality, the same drive that focused so much on perfecting their crafts that they were both missing the big picture…

_'Or perhaps he's trying to fool you,'_ The voice hissed in the back of her head, _'Gain your sympathy, and ultimately your trust before betraying you horribly, worse even then the first time,'_ Valerie felt a chill go through her at the thought of that. _'Don't give it to him, Valerie, don't let him win…'_

"What about this Clockwork guy?" Heather asked, "And those three humans you marked or whatever?"

"That pretty much sums up my friends," Phantom said with a dry smile. "Well, There are a few other ghosts that are okay, I guess, and I do have one other human friend. Sort of, anyways…"

"Sort of?" Heather repeated.

"It's complicated," Phantom said shortly.

"Well, I'll be your friend too, Danny!" Heather said sweetly.

"Oh, God…" Valerie snorted, disgusted.

"Don't mind her," Heather told Phantom, "She's still just sour that she can't go out with the guy she has a crush on," Valerie's eyes widened underneath the mask.

"HEATHER!" She yelled, an unseen blush working it's way across her face.

"What?" the girl asked in feigned innocence. "You said I couldn't tell my uncle your business, you never said anything about Danny Phantom,"

"Well you can't!" The ghost hunter hissed, "Ghost boy doesn't need to know who I like, okay?"

"So you DO have a crush on him!" Heather said triumphantly. Valerie ground her teeth together and tried counting backwards from ten.

"Wait, you've gotta crush on someone?" Phantom asked, sounding faintly surprised. (Which only irritated Valerie more.) "On who?"

"No one!" Valerie yelled. "It's none of your business!"

"He's really cute!" Heather said brightly at the same time, "A nice guy, too. Way better then this creep deserves. I think she said his name's-!" Before Heather could finish, Valerie clamped one black gloved hand over her mouth.

"Finish that sentence and the next thing we find out about this world is how well the gravity works," She said threateningly. There was almost no chance that Phantom didn't know the Fentons, considering they were Amity's main ghost hunters. And if he knew about her crush on Danny, it wouldn't be long until her classmate himself found out.

"You're not the boss of me!" Heather said back as soon as Valerie let her go. "I can tell him whatever I want! Besides, you know Phantom would catch me, anyways…"

"Never mind," Phantom said, "It really isn't any of my business." Heather pouted as Valerie shot her a triumphant smirk.

"What about you, Danny?" Heather asked the ghost sweetly, "I mean, you said you don't have a girlfriend, but you HAVE to have a crush!" The ghost's face reddened slightly at that, much to Valerie's amusement.

"Uhh…" He stammered, "W-Well…" The ghost coughed and cleared his throat nervously, "Moving on now!"

"What's the matter, ghost-boy?" Valerie taunted, "Bashful?" The blush deepened.

"Hey, if you don't have to tell me your crush, I don't have to tell you mine," Phantom said firmly, "And since when were you so interested in my non existent social life?"

"Since you destroyed mine," Valerie said, her good humor fading. Phantom flinched guiltily.

"Ahh…" He said, hesitantly. "Valerie, look, I-!"

"I don't want you hear it," Valerie interrupted him. "Let's just keep the rest of this trip quiet and forget all about it once we get home."

"Valerie-!" The ghost started again, a little sharper this time. The hunter cut him off before he could finish though.

"Didn't you hear me?" She snapped, "I said-!"

"LOOK OUT!" Phantom interrupted her. Valerie turned away from the ghost sharply, her eyes widening when she found a blue and orange dragon/tiger like creature charging up at her…

* * *

"KYAAA!" Valerie and Heather screamed as one as the creature hit the jet sled before Valerie could steer them to safety. In tore through it without even slowing, shattering the machine to bits. Both girls started to fall as one.

"Valerie! Heather!" Phantom yelled, diving down to catch both of them with a different arm before they hit the trees. He swooped back up just in time to avoid the creature's talons as it came back around for another hit, but ended up getting a nasty scratch from one of it's claws. The ghost flinched slightly, but showed no other signs of pain.

"Get us out of here, now!" Valerie yelled over the creatures growling and Heather's soft whimpers. The nine year old kept her head buried into Phantom's shoulder, with an iron grip around his neck.

Phantom didn't need to be told twice. He shot off at what Valerie realized was his top speed, and the ghost hunter felt her breath leave her at exactly how fast the ghost was going. Looking back over her shoulder, though, the girl realized it wasn't enough. "He's gaining!" She yelled to the ghost, the wind blowing her voice right back at her.

Phantom must've heard her, though, if the sudden pursing of his lips meant anything. He sighed and seemed to come to a decision on what to do, though he didn't look like it was something he'd enjoy.

"Listen," He said in a serious tone. "I'm going to have to stop and turn around,"

"WHAT?" Valerie and Heather screamed as one, Both turning to give him wide eyed stares.

"I have an idea!" The ghost yelled back, "I just need you two to hold on as tight as possible and trust me," Valerie was about to retort, but it died in her throat when she saw the glint of the monster's fangs as it grinned at them hungrily.

"Fine," She said sullenly. "Don't get used to this, though!" and with that, the irritated ghost hunter did as Phantom instructed. Taking Valerie's surrender as a sign that she should follow suit, Heather hugged closer to Phantom as well, closing her eyes as tightly as possible.

Phantom stopped dead right there, and a sharp wind blew past them from their high speed trip. Valerie felt her heart pounding loudly in her chest and she began to shake as the ghost turned. Swallowing audibly, the girl forced herself to keep watching as the creature came closer… closer… closer…

And just as Valerie was about to start screaming, Phantom took a deep breath, filling his lungs with as much air as possible before letting out a roar that shook everything in sight, cleared the trees in front of them at a five mile distance of leaves and sent the monster flying.

_'…Oh…My…God…' _Valerie blinked numbly as Phantom turned all three of them intangible and brought them safely back to the earth. He released the two girls as soon as their feet touched ground, leaning against a nearby tree and looking rather drained. Heather grinned at the ghost, latching herself to his waist.

"That was so cool!" she yelled giddily. "You totally sent that monster flying without even touching him!" Phantom gave the girl a weak smile, patting her on the head.

"Thanks," he said, "Wish I could say it was nothing, but I don't think I'll be using any of my powers for a while…"

"That…" Valerie said, staring off at the barren trees that stretched as far as she could see. "How long have you been able to do that?" The ghost hunter looked visibly shaken.

"Not long," The ghost told her, closing his eyes to take deep, cleansing breaths, "About three or four months now. I don't like using it, since it's hard to control and drains me so much," Valerie frowned, logging that away for future studies.

"Well, looks like we've all been grounded." She sighed, peeling her mask off so she could breathe easier, "We'll have to try and finish the way on foot." Frowning, she pushed a few buttons on her wrist. "I marked the direction and approximate distance we need to go to get to that place Phantom saw. It should lead us straight there."

"Wow," Phantom said, looking impressed. "That helps,"

"Technically it was made to help with my ghost hunting so I wouldn't get lost," Valerie explained, "But it's definitely cool that it has other uses."

"We'd better get started," Phantom said, standing, "If things like that hang out during the day, I don't WANT to know what comes out at night…"

"Agreed," Valerie said quickly, "Follow me,"

Phantom and Heather didn't argue, both staying as close to the huntress as possible. Valerie noticed that Phantom seemed to be keeping a keen eye out around them for any future attacks, even going as far as to open his sixth sense a little more. She had to admit she was grateful, despite her reservations about relying on an enemy.

She also saw on her radar that he wasn't kidding about how much power that wailing attack used up. Phantom had been drained to the last 10 of the maximum power he used when fighting her, and though Valerie was pretty sure that wasn't actually 10 of his full power, the intensity of the drain had her a little edgy.

"How long will it take to get some energy back," Valerie asked, unsettled by the forest surrounding them.

"I'll need at least half an hour worth or rest," Phantom admitted, "Even then, I'd probably only keep the powers I use to the basics,"

"Basics?" Heather repeated.

"Intangibility, flight and invisibility, the three ghost powers that use minimal power, and that all ghosts possess," Heather looked surprised. Not really at the answer, though, as much as the fact that it wasn't Phantom who told her.

"Exactly," Phantom said, nodding. Then, with a wry smile, he added, "Just like the good ol' days…"

Valerie was tempted to ask then exactly how he died, and how long he'd been dead, but couldn't bring herself to do so. Doing so would acknowledge that the creature she now hunted was once human like her, which would bring reservations to harming him. Never allow yourself to think of a ghost as a person was Ghost Hunting Rule Number 1, and Valerie wasn't about to break it.

"What else can you do?" Heather asked.

"This and that," Phantom said, shrugging, "You know, Ecto-blasts, shields… those sort of things," Valerie couldn't suppress a smile, amused smile. The ghost knew full well she was listening in, and wasn't stupid enough to give her an inventory of his powers.

"Well, can you at least tell me what that screaming thing back there was?" Heather asked, "That was REALLY cool!" Phantom laughed.

"Fair enough," He agreed, "I call it my Ghostly Wail. Basically it can project my voice like a sonic wave and destroy everything in its path, as I'm sure you saw. But it's still a little too powerful for me to use too often. Besides, I'm sure you can only imagine the hassle it'd make for property owners…"

"You don't seem to care about that too much before," Valerie said coolly.

"And you do?" Phantom countered. Valerie blushed, finding no retaliation.

"How much longer do we have to walk?" Heather whined, "I'm getting tired!" Valerie and Phantom flinched simultaneously, realizing that, thanks to their exceptional physical form they'd been keeping a pace that was too hard for a child, even with Phantom tired out and Valerie still suffering from an increasingly worse headache.

"Hang on," Phantom said, stopping he dropped down onto one knee and looked at the girl over his shoulder, "Climb on and I'll carry you a bit so you can rest, okay?" Valerie frowned.

"I don't think-!" The ghost hunters protest died in her throat as Heather squealed, eagerly climbing onto the ghost's back.

"Thank you, Phantom!" She sang out cheerfully. Valerie glowered at the ghost irritable, but bit her tongue as they started off again.

* * *

"How much longer do we have to walk?" Valerie asked irritably.

"It should only be about half an hour or so, I can sense a big mass of people nearby," Phantom responded, "Need a break?"

"No way," Valerie answered, though nothing could be further from the truth. Phantom studied her face for a moment, then stopped. "What?"

"I'm getting kinda tired, mind if we rest for a bit?" The ghost asked. Valerie's lips pursed as she studied Phantom's cool, perspiration-free face, knowing that sweat was pouring down her face.

Other then the fact that the strenuous physical trek was made easier on him because he could now levitated above the ground and fly straight through the trees and other obstacles Valerie had to walk around, the fact that his body temperature could be compared to ice even in the smoldering heat around them made her almost envious.

Almost.

At any rate, she also knew that Phantom didn't need a break. He'd regained enough of his energy over the last three hours that he chanced an ecto-blast on one of the bizarre creatures that lived here when it tried to attack Valerie not twenty minutes ago, without disturbing the sleeping nine year old on his back.

Phantom was just giving her an excuse to stop and catch her breath without wounding her pride, and while the majority of Valerie wanted to insist they keep going, a smarter part of her mind she could've really used back when the box was in her hands told her to rest for a few minutes. It was no good keeping up with Phantom if she was dead after doing so, after all. Beside, her headache still hadn't gone away…

"What happened to that stupid box, anyways?" Valerie asked as she sat, taking deep, even breaths and closing her eyes to help regain her energy faster. She wasn't afraid, she knew Phantom wouldn't chance leaving without her.

Besides, she had her other senses, too. They'd been enhanced thanks to this ghost hunting thing, since ghosts spent the majority of the time invisible. She'd know if he tried anything funny.

"Disappeared," Phantom said grimly, "Right outta your hands… hopefully, the contact will be able to tell us what happened. That's not our biggest problem, though…" Phantom sighed. "Valerie, there's something you should really know. I didn't want to say anything in front of Heather since she's just a kid and all, but…"

"What?" Valerie asked, not opening her eyes.

"Well… Because you're the one who opened the box, you're more at risk then me and Heather," Phantom said delicately. Valerie cracked one eye open to glare suspiciously at the ghost.

"How much more at risk?" She asked, a little more tense then before.

"…if we can't get out of here in 24 hours, you're going to die, Valerie," Phantom told her, his tone serious and sympathetic at the same time.

_**"…WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"**_

* * *

_**WoM- Poor Valerie! Never a break, ne? **_**'grins innocently'****_ Sorry if a lot of my senseless babble went over your heads, I was trying to explain things the best I could. Looking back at this chapter, I'm starting to realize how fun the squabbled between Valerie and Heather are! _'giggles.'_ Hope you stay tuned for the next chappie!_**

* * *

**Thanks to;**

Evilevergreen

epobbp

My Eternal Facade

Tetsukon

Assasin of Light

Titan6

Mariko the Reviewer

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet

TallieCat

Rob the Hedgehog

Samantha-Girl Scout

Byrdie Fae  
the sleep warrior

Bluemystgirl

Firefury

Inumaru12

Petitio Principii

* * *

**Next update;** _December 26th_

_**See you then!**_


	4. Hunting for Trouble

**WoM- _Did everyone have a Good Christmas? I did!_ 'giggles' _I've got some money together now, and I'm planning on buying a scanner so I can post some of my artwork, along with an Abode program for my computer. I just know basic stuff from my Visual Imaging classes, but there's no better way to learn then to practice, right?_ 'cringes as she looks back on earlier art and stories.' _Erk…!_**

**BTW;RoseGirl from planet Pluto _posted this in her review. I already knew about this, but after careful consideration I decided to post it here as a belated Christmas Present;_**

****

1/13/2006- Flirting with Disaster  
Technus is back, with a new plan to beam himself up to a super satellite and take over the world, and he's going to use Axion Labs to do it. As Danny Phantom battles Technus, Danny Fenton begins battling his feelings for Valerie, whose dad is back in charge at Axion. Sam and Tucker are surprised when Danny confesses he's thinking of asking Valerie to go steady. Unfortunately, as Technus puts his plan into action at Axion Labs, Valerie realizes her role as ghost hunter is putting her family and friends in danger. Can romance work between two kids with secret identities, or will the ghost boy and the ghost hunter end up breaking each others' hearts?

And on 1/27/05 micro-management  
Although Danny Phantom can perform extraordinary physical feats, Danny Fenton is still something of a weakling. For this reason, Dash is assigned as Danny's "fitness buddy" to help him prepare for the Presidential Fitness Test at school. When Skulker appears at FentonWorks on his usual hunt, Danny Phantom, Dash, and Skulker are accidentally hit with Jack's new "Fenton Crammer," which shrinks them all to a half-inch tall! Worse yet, Danny's ghost powers don't work so well in his tiny form. Now, Danny and Dash must rely on each other's brains and natural physical abilities to get to the FentonWorks Emergency Op-Center and reverse the shrink ray before Skulker and his fully-powered ecto-skeleton catches up to them.

'**covers ears and D/V fans shriek in joy and D/S fan scream in anger,' _Hopefully this episode will bring Valerie a little more respect in the eyes of Danny Phantom fans… and at the very least it should provide me with desperately needed Dan/Val based quotes. _'laughs sheepishly.' _Speaking of which…!_**

* * *

**Valerie:** _(To Danny)_ Well, thank you for nothing! It's your fault that I'm stuck in this freaky ghost world!  
**Danny:** Right, 'cause clearly the _maniac_ who _dragged_ and _cuffed_ us here had absolutely _nothing_ to do with it!

* * *

**Chapter 4; Hunting for Trouble**

"Ow…" Phantom cringed, holding one hand against his ear in response to Valerie's ear splitting scream.

"You didn't think that it was a LITTLE important for me to know that?" Valerie kept yelling, glaring at the ghost. "How much time has passed?"

"Just about three or four hours," Phantom sighed.

"What are you yelling about now?" Heather asked groggily, wiping sleep from her eyes to give Valerie a rather dry look. Apparently the girl's first scream had woken her up.

"It's nothing, Heather," Danny sighed, "But we'd better keep going. Think you have the energy to walk on your own?"

"Keep carrying her," Valerie ordered sharply before the girl could answer, "We don't need her slowing us down." Heather glared.

"What that supposed to mean?" She asked angrily.

"Look, kid, your gonna have to grow up and face the fact that Phantom and I have you beat as far as speed and stamina go," Valerie countered, "And you are NOT slowing me down if I can help it,"

"Come on, Heather," Phantom said with an encouraging smile. Heather glared at Valerie once more before reluctantly climbing onto the ghost's back again.

"How come you're a ghost?" Heather asked Phantom as he and Valerie started walking again. Phantom flinched at the question.

"You're not supposed to ask a ghost that!" Valerie said, glaring at Heather to hide the fact that she was wondering the very same thing.

"It's okay, Valerie," Phantom sighed, "And If you really want to know, I got… this way… because of a lab accident," Valerie blinked, raising an eyebrow and even Heather looked a little puzzled.

"Lab accident?" The little girl repeated. Phantom nodded, getting a far-off look in his eyes.

"My parents are… were… inventors, and they made something they couldn't get working. One day my friend talked me into going inside it. I hit a switch and next thing I knew…" Valerie flinched.

_'Remember Rule Number One…'_ She reminded herself sternly.

"Did it hurt?" Heather asked, her eyes wide at the thought.

"Yeah," Phantom sighed, "It hurt. It hurt a lot. I thought I was gonna die… and when I woke up like this, it didn't help things…" Valerie stopped.

"What's that mean?" She asked, confused. "You THOUGHT you were gonna die?" Phantom stopped too, and what little color was in his face evaporated as he realized his slip.

"Nothing," He said hastily, "It's nothing… just forget it," But Valerie wasn't going to 'just forget it.' It was obvious her rival was hiding something from her, and she was gonna find out what.

"I want to know why you said that, ghost boy!" She said sharply.

"Back off, Valerie!" Heather snapped, "He shouldn't have to talk about it if he doesn't want to!"

"Who asked you?" Valerie snapped back, irritated that the girl was so eager to defend Danny. "This doesn't concern you in the slightest, kid, so stay out!"

"Well if you really think that way, then maybe I can tell Phantom a little more about your crush!" Heather shot back angrily. Valerie's lips pursed as she fixed the girl with a homicidal glare.

"Did you hear that?" Heather, Danny and Valerie all froze at the strange, otherworldly voice that broke into the heated argument.

"Hear what?" A similar voice asked. Danny got over his shock fastest, easily picking Heather up with one arm and grabbing Valerie's wrist to turn them all invisible and intangible.

All three of them held their breath as two strange, humanoid looking creatures crashed through the undergrowth, looking around suspiciously. Both of the things had human facial and body structure, but they were lean and slender, with longer necks and silvery skin tone. Both also had cat like eyes, which were deep blue where the white was supposed to be, and then black for the eye color and red for the iris, giving them an even more eerie look.

Stranger yet, both wore some type of strange armor, cloth-like in texture and thin but obviously durable as they pushed their way through the plants. The one to the right wore white and red, while the left one had white and blue. From the way he followed, it was obvious the one in blue had less power then the one in red.

"There's nothing here," the red one frowned, "Obviously you were just hearing things…"

"You never know," The one in blue protested, "It could be more of those humans come to ambush us,"

"For a minor prisoner like this?" Red snorted, "They wouldn't have the nerve. Or the power, for that matter. No human can stand up to a Kesan, no matter how many they number," Red turned and started away, "Let's go. We need to get the prisoner to the mountains before sunsets. Otherwise we'll anger King Nopyath,"

"Yes sir," Blue responded, following him hesitantly after casting one last uncertain glance at the invisible trio. After their footfall faded away, Phantom let Valerie go, turning himself and Heather tangible again as he set the little girl down.

"What were those?" Valerie asked, looking a little shaken.

"I don't know," Phantom frowned, "What did they mean by 'prisoner?'"

"Only one way to find out…" Valerie said grimly.

"You mean we're going after them?" Heather asked, her eyes going wide.

"No choice," Phantom sighed, "They were headed in the same direction as us, anyways, following them means we get there faster," Phantom gave Valerie a pointed look as he added, "Of course, it also means that we have to stay invisible." Valerie's lips pursed.

She knew what the ghost was getting at. She was going to have to trust him again to keep hold on her, to carry her. As much as she hated that thought, Valerie knew she had no alternate options if she wanted to know what was going on.

"Fine," Valerie sighed, rubbing her throbbing temples as she stepped closer to the ghost. And, as Phantom picked her up in one arm and Heather in the other, she couldn't help but add one last woeful statement, more to herself then her companions. "Why me…?"

* * *

"Wow…" Heather breathed, ignoring Phantom and Valerie's disapproving looks as those closest to them glanced around in bewilderment. Still, the ghost hunter couldn't blame the child for her awe, since she herself was pretty dumbstruck at the sight in front of them.

The two Kesan had led them to what appeared to be a strange, otherworldly palace, filled with men, women and children much like Red and Blue. On the surface, the strange place looked rather peaceful, but neither Phantom or Valerie missed the way those who saw the carriage Red and Blue were escorting instantly sobered, pulling children inside and turning away hastily as if to pretend they hadn't witness an unspeakable crime.

_'Okay, that's not a good sign…'_ Valerie thought grimly. Her only physical response, though, was to tug as Phantom's costume a bit, motioning for him to take them closer before promptly wincing when she remembered they were invisible.

But the girl once again got a lesson about ghosts when her rival merely nodded and dived nearer still to the carriage. Valerie frowned a little and bit her lip to keep her questions in, logging it away to bring up again during future interrogations.

Hopefully Heather-free ones, too. The ghost boy always panicked when you got too close to certain things, and panicking meant he made slip ups more often, but Heather was drawing the fights to herself before Valerie could work him to that point, meaning he had time to collect himself and think of a clever lie for when she returned to it.

The ghost hunter was brought back to the present as they approached a large, elaborate looking abode in the center of the palace, clearly the epicenter of life in the castle. The carriage stopped, and Valerie couldn't suppress a gasp of horror as a young boy, about two or three years older then Heather, was led from the carriage in shackles and chains.

He looked like someone who was used to keeping with their appearance, though now he was dirty and grungy. He wore what appeared to be simple black jeans and a back shirt with a white headband keeping most of his long green hair out of his face. Scuffed and muddy black boots with thick soles hit the gravel loudly as the kid walked, and black biker gloves donned the boys hands, witch were cuffed in front of him, his wrists raw and red from the metal.

_'Is he the prisoner they were talking about?' _Valerie wondered, a sick feeling settling in her stomach. What could a kid this age have done to deserve treatment like this…?

Apparently the ghost boy wanted to know the same thing, as he carried the girls, invisible and intangible, into the palace, still following Red, Blue and the boy.

They passed all sort of heavily armed guards and soldiers, until they finally found themselves in a giant, empty room with a high throne where a man who looked a lot like Red and Blue sat glaring sternly down at the three he saw enter, as unaware as everyone else of the three uninvited guests.

"Your majesty," Red said and he and Blue bowed, blue pushing the human boy to the floor by the back on his neck. The boy grunted, but made no other protest, save to glare sullenly at the floor. "We have brought a Rebel spy, sir,"

"Excellent," The man on the throne said, standing, "and what of the other Rebels?"

"They have no knowledge of his capture, sire," Red answered, ignoring the was the boy's glare at the floor intensified. "We detained him after killing his comrades, so the rebel base won't even know of his arrest until it's far too late. They won't be coming after him."

"Good," The King said, sounding pleased. "In that case, remove him from my sight. Take him to the Tower until the time of execution."

"EXECUTION?" Heather bellowed, her eyes going wide. Phantom hastily slapped a hand over her mouth to keep in any more outbursts, but the damage had been done.

"What was that?" The king demanded, glancing around wildly. "Guards! GUARDS!"

In a flash, fifty guards had managed to jam themselves into the room, all of them aiming sharp, pointy weapons at the young boy still on the floor.

"What's going on here? The king demanded, "What is the meaning of this ambush? Answer or I swear I'll have you killed on the spot!"

Vivid cursed formed an mantra in the ghost hunters head as she desperately tried to think of a way to help the boy out of the mess her charge had gotten him into. As usual, though, Phantom was a step ahead of her.

The ghost flew up to the banister and out of sight, setting the two girls down. Valerie caught onto what he was going to do and opened her mouth to protest, but Phantom cut her off with a harsh whisper before she could even start.

"I know what you're gonna say, but I'm the only one who can get that kid out of their safely, Valerie, and you know it so don't even start with me," He said sharply. "Now stay quiet and out of sight until I get back…" Valerie scowled, but did as the ghost told her to do, more concerned for the child's welfare then soothing her stinging pride.

"I said answer!" The ghost hunter heard the king yell at the child.

"Look, I don't know what's going on, okay?" The kid yelled back. "I'm just a spy, remember?" After that outburst, (Which Valerie could only guess came from the boy,) There was a loud, bone-chilling growling sound, like a starved wildcat who'd just found food.

"Wrong answer," The king said coldly. "Shoot-!" The king stopped dead in the middle of his sentence, telling Valerie that her ghostly companion had made his move, "Where did he go!" Yep, Phantom had rescued the kid alright…

Sure enough, not seven minutes later Valerie felt the increasingly familiar tingle of invisibility as Phantom returned to pick her and Heather up before shooting through floor after floor until they came to an empty room with no one near.

"That ought to be enough of a distance…" Phantom said, putting his load down and turning everyone tangible again, himself included. The boy gasped at them, wide eyed.

"W-What are you?" He asked, stunned.

"He's a ghost," Heather answered, "And his name's Danny Phantom. He can do lots and lots of neat stuff! I'm Heather, by the way, and that creep over there is my servant, Valerie,"

"I'm your babysitter, you little brat!" Valerie scowled, "And he doesn't need to know all that!"

"Go-est?" The child repeated, confused, "What's a Go-est?"

"Not Go-est!" Heather said, scowling, "GHOST! You know, like the creepy, undead, paranormal beings that haunt places and scare people away? Only Danny's not creepy, and he doesn't scare people…"

"You'd be surprised," Phantom said dryly.

"And the ability to fly? To make yourself invisible? To move through stone? Do all you 'ghosts' have these powers?" the boy asked, sounding more awestruck then afraid.

"Heather and I aren't ghosts," Valerie corrected at once, irritation coloring her tone. "But yes, all ghosts do have those powers. Among other, more dangerous ones…" Valerie gave Phantom a pointed look at that, to remind him she hadn't forgotten about the Ghostly Wail.

"Are there any more like you?" The child asked hopefully.

"Not around here, kid," Phantom answered, frowning and raising an eyebrow at the child's enthusiasm. "And honestly, I don't think you'd want to meet too many of the ones I know where I'm from…" The child's face fell slightly.

"But you can teach people how to do it, can't you?" He asked desperately.

"Sorry," Phantom shook his head, looking genuinely remorseful.

"Then you have to help us!" The boy said, grabbing on to Phantom's leg and clutching the hazmat suit in an almost desperate manner.

"…Say what now?" Phantom blinked, "Uh, sorry kid but we've got a problem of our own to deal with…"

"Please!" the child begged, tightening his grip, "You don't have to help long, but we need you!" Valerie frowned.

"Can you help us find the contact or whatever?" She asked, cutting off Phantom's protests.

"The what?" The boy asked frowning in confusion. Danny sighed.

"Is there a person here who has been around since this world was made?" He asked, "And who can't ever die?"

"I don't know anyone like that," The youth admitted, but then he brightened. "But I bet Treya does!"

"Who's Treya?" Heather asked.

"She's the leader of the Rebels," the boy answered, "That's the group that's trying to stop the king of the Kesan from ruling over humans anymore. I'm a member, too!"

"We got that much," Valerie said dryly, "How do you know this Treya will know this immortal?"

"Because if she doesn't, no one does," The kid responded. "She knows anything about everything that goes on around here." Phantom and Valerie exchanged looks, and the ghost shrugged.

"Worth a shot, I guess," He said, "It's up to you, though. You've got the most to lose if we're wrong." Valerie sighed.

"Alright, kid," She said in a tired tone, "Take us to meet this Treya of yours, if she's got the information we need, we'll help you as much as we can, considering we've gotta get out of here as fast as possible." The boy cheered. "Phantom? You think you can carry three people?"

"I can hold two and a third will have to just hold onto me," Phantom answered with a shrug, but yeah, If I can throw around a dragon that's ten times my size, I can probably carry two kids and a girl around my age…" Valerie was a touch amused at how he carefully avoided saying even the slightest thing against her weight, a crime any woman finds punishable by death.

"Well then, tell us where to go, kid," Valerie said as she and heather somehow ended up being the ones carried, and the newcomer was left to cling to the ghost's neck.

"My name isn't kid," He said, sounding faintly annoyed, "It's Wole," Valerie sighed, wondering where exactly in her contract it'd said she was working with kids.

"Wole then," She said, scowling, "You need to tell Phantom which way to fly,"

"You need to head towards the suns," Wole answered, "I'll tell you more when I see something familiar."

"Gotcha!" Phantom said, hovering a few inches off the ground. "Everyone holing on tight?"

"Just go already," Valerie sighed. Boys…

"So you have wished it-!"

"Finish that and I swear I'll find a way to end your afterlife here and now," Valerie warned. Phantom grinned back in an almost playful manner before taking off towards the suns, and hopefully the answer to their problems…

* * *

**WoM- _That's all I have time to write. I'm way too tired to put anything else here, and I've got to leave in like, ten minutes for an eight hour road trip to spend a week with my dad. Sorry the chapter's so short, I swear I'll make it up to everyone one I get some free time on my hands! _'swirling eyes as she passes out,' _Anyways, I hope you don't hate me enough not to leave a review…_**

* * *

**Thanks to;**

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet

Petitio Principii

Tetsukon

Divine-Red-Crayon

Ytak

epobbp

Titan6

Evilevergreen

Ms. Dependent

Kari

spirit1s

the sleep warrior

Rei Tamashii

Bluemystgirl

conan98002

Rae Valerious

Firefury

Byrdie Fae

phantomshadowdragon

Desiree518

RoseGirl from planet Pluto

* * *

**Next update;** _January 9th_

_**See you then!**_


	5. Hunting for Freedom

**WoM- _Ack! So busy! _'dizzy' _So much time has been devoted to Gender Confusion lately, I barely have time to work on my other stories! And school isn't helping, either… you'd think it'd get easier by the time you were a senior but Noooo… Hmph!_ 'pouts' _Anywho, Here's chapter five, and don't forget to check out Flirting with Disaster this Friday!_**

* * *

**Valerie:** What are you? _(Ghost dog spits green ectoplasmic saliva on Valerie)_  
**Danny:** I'll tell you what I'm not: covered in dog saliva. _(Valerie screams)_

* * *

**Hunting For Freedom**

They flew for about half an hour in the direction Wole gave them. Normally, half an hour wasn't a big deal for Valerie, even with a ghost. She and Phantom had been trapped in the Ghost Zone by Skulker for more then half an hour, after all, and that wasn't even including after she'd blacked out.

Half an hour with two pre-adolescent and extremely hyper kids, on the other hand…

"So you're hair's really that color naturally?" Heather asked, wide-eyed. Phantom laughed.

"Well, it was a different color before the accident…" He admitted amused.

"What accident?" Wole asked.

"The one that killed him, of course!" Heather scoffed. "What about your eyes? Were they green before?"

"No," The ghost admitted, "They got changed, too."

"But I can't picture you without green eyes!" Heather complained. "They're soooo cool! What was your real coloring? Before you died, I mean."

"Uhh…" Phantom glanced at Valerie quickly, "…I, uhh, can't remember." Heather groaned in disappointment, and Valerie frowned. It was obvious he was lying, but why would he lie about something like that?

"I don't get it," Wole complained, "How come you're still here if you're dead?"

"Becauuuse," Heather said, sounding faintly annoyed, "He's a ghost!"

"You already said that! What's a ghost, anyways?"

"Basically? Dead spirits that won't rest," Phantom said grimly, "They usually have some sort of business in the living realm they never completed, and a lot of them aren't people you'd wanna meet in a dark ally alone."

"But you're not like that, Phantom!" Heather said sweetly, "You're way too cool to be a bad guy!" Phantom smiled at her, but it was an empty smile. His eyes were glazed, and his mind was somewhere else completely. In fact…

"WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!" Valerie screeched, gripping Phantom's shoulders as hard as she could to try and awake him from his daydreams.

The ghost yelped and came back to reality just in time to phase them all through the tree in question. Valerie, Wole and Heather all sighed in relief, and the ghost hunter scowled at Phantom, her hands encircling his neck.

"Don't you EVER scare me like that again!" She yelled, "I nearly had a heart attack back there!"

"Alright, Alright!" Phantom gasped out, "I get it! If you don't stop strangling me, we're all gonna fall!" Valerie's scowl darkened, but she loosened her grip.

"Hmph," She grumped, glaring down at the trees below them.

"You know, that kind of power is really amazing," Wole said, giving Danny a wide eyed look, "No human I know can do things like that,"

"He isn't human," Valerie sighed, "Look, you're sure this Treya knows our contact? Because if this is a wild goose chase, I'm hauling your butt straight back to that creepy king guy back there!" Wole stared at her.

"You guys really aren't from around here," He said, shaking his head.

"No duh," Valerie said, irritated, "And we need to get back home as soon as possible."

"What's the rush?" Heather asked, annoyed, "I mean, it's not like Home's going anywhere, right?"

"Valerie's right," Phantom said, "We don't have time to waste."

"But it's so much fun here!" Heather complained, "I mean, yeah at first it was scary, but everything looks so different and cool! And you're here to protect us from the creepy stuff, Phantom!"

"Speak for yourself!" Valerie snapped, "I don't need anyone fighting my battles for me!"

"Yeah, you really stood up to that thing that attacked us and got your flying board thingy," Heather said sarcastically.

"It's a jet sled!" An angry Valerie growled, "And I could've beaten him if SOMEONE wasn't too busy acting like a spoiled brat!"

"I know you are, but what am I?" Heather countered. Phantom burst out laughing, earning an evil look from Valerie.

"S-Sorry," He laughed, "But you who sound almost like sisters or something."

"Yeah, right," Heather said, "I could never be sisters with a cold-hearted snob like her!"

"And any little sister of mine would know when to hold her tongue and NOT be an insufferable brat!" Valerie glared at the girl. Phantom's grin widened.

"Hence proving my point," he said cheekily. Then his attention was drawn to something below them. "Hey, there's some people down there…"

Alert, all three humans looked to the ground, scanning for any signs of life, human or otherwise.

"I don't see anything…" Heather complained.

"Me either." Wole frowned.

"I see 'em," Valerie whispered, her eyes narrowing on a spot where a bush trembled without wind. Her eyes immediately sought out Phantom's to find he was already giving her a questioning frown, obviously torn between seeking the disturbance out and continuing. Valerie considered for a moment before sighing in defeat. "The way they're acting, we'll definitely have to deal with them first," She decided. "You heard what Wole said about your powers, and we don't need any attention here."

"Right," Phantom agreed, turning the whole group invisible. He flew them over to a large tree where he set them all down. Valerie automatically started preparing her weapons.

"Stay here," She ordered the two children, "We don't need either of you getting in our way," Both Heather and Wole stiffened and glared at Valerie, but she paid them no mind, jumping silently to the earth. Phantom disappeared from sight once again, though Valerie saw the direction he was heading in and knew he was planning to circle around behind their audience.

Activating her extendable Ecto-staff without turning it on, Valerie tensed, listening close for any hints of movement and keeping keen attention on the ground. Unlike ghosts, who were intangible more often then not, she'd learned to feel when a human's foot fell, and tell with direction they were coming from.

These skills let her know that there were four… no, five. Five people were now trying to circle around her. Three of them weren't any good at being inconspicuous at all, one was so-so and the other was fairly good. Not up to par with a ghost, but still impressive for someone who was bound by the rules of Physics.

One of the first three was also edgy and impatient, and was the first one to try and attack Valerie from behind. The Ghost Hunter responded by planting the end of her staff in the man's gut, then twisting around to knock him against a tree, too dazed to move again.

This was the cue for the other four to attack. Two of them were knocked out mid-air by Phantom before they could reach for their weapons, and a third yelped in surprise when his machete jumped out of his hand and into Phantom's gloved one.

Only the fourth managed to reach Valerie, who dodged the sword he wield with expert precision. Swinging around, she brought her staff up to par another blow, one of her boots sweeping out to knock the man's feet out from under him.

He jumped up before she could do so, though, falling back to try and circle around Valerie again. Phantom flew down before he could do anything else, though, and the man swiped at the ghost with his sword.

Only to freeze up with wide eyes when the sword sliced through the air as if he wasn't even there, the path the sword cut clear through him sealing up almost as soon as it was made. Taking advantage of the man's surprise, Phantom punched him hard in the jaw, sending him flying into another tree.

"STOP!" Wole yelled, out, "They're on our side!" All seven people in the clearing gave the boy a startled look as he began to climb down from the tree.

"Wole?" One of the men Phantom had knocked out of the air said in surprise, "I thought the Kesan got you!"

"They did," Wole sighed, "But these guys saved me,"

"What are you?" The swordsman asked Phantom holding his head where it's hit the tree.

"Look, can we save the Q and A stuff?" Valerie asked in irritation, "We're in a hurry, and you guys aren't helping."

"These are people from another world, Kren," Wole answered, "That's Phantom, she's Valerie and up there's Heather." The five men stared at the young girl attempting to climb down from the tree after Wole. Their staring became more pronounced when Phantom flew up to help her down.

"What is he?" The first man to attack repeated Kren's question.

"What part of 'in a hurry,' Doesn't make sence here?" Valerie demanded irritably.

"We'll answer your questions on the way," Wole reasoned. "Right now, we need to get these three to see Treya." Kren frowned, studying Phantom hesitantly before sighing in defeat.

"Come on, then," He said begrudgingly. Everyone began to follow him through the forest as he led them away. Now that the heat of battle was firmly dead, Valerie took the time to study the man.

Kren was about twenty-something, with dark blue hair and violet eyes. He wore a red headband, much like Wole's, and his fashion sence was much the same in that in consisted mainly or blacks and dark blues.

"Well?" Kren asked in the silence, eyeing Phantom again when he saw the boy was floating rather then walking. Phantom realized what he was doing and hastily landed, obviously hoping to keep tensions at a minimum, but the damage had been done.

"_Yovven_," one of the men hissed, scowling at Phantom, "The boy's obviously a _Yovven_, a demon! And you're taking him to see our leader!"

"That's not true!" Wole defended the ghost, "Phantom can fly and walk through things, I've never met a _Yovven_ that can do that." This did little to soothe the man's distrust of Phantom.

"He's a ghost," Valerie said, sighing, "They're fairly common in our world. Or at least, in our part of our world."

"You're world?" Kren repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"We're from another dimension," Phantom said, "There was an accident, though, and we ended up here, but we have to get back home in a 24 hour time span."

"Since when was there a time limit?" Heather asked, confused.

"Never mind, Heather," Valerie said automatically. Heather scowled at her.

"Why do you always do that?" She demanded. "I'm not a three year old, and I've been handling this stuff pretty well so far, considering it's all your fault! Why don't you just tell me what's going on already?"

"Right, because you're proven yourself to be the shining star of maturity," Valerie said sarcastically. Then, to prove her point, Valerie added, "'I know you are, but what am I?'" Heather's glare darkened.

"Like you're really all that much better!" She countered. "At least I don't go around pretending I'm better then everyone else!"

"I'm not even gonna touch that hypocrisy." Valerie said dryly.

"Heather," Phantom sighed when the girl opened her mother to retaliate, "knock it off. You too, Valerie. If we waste all our energy fighting each other, we'll never get out of here in time," Valerie turned her glare to the ghost.

"You think you can tell me what to do?" She challenged, tilting her chin to give the ghost her nastiest look to date.

"I think I want to get all of us out of here before anything bad happens to either of you," Phantom snapped, frowning at her, "Considering you're on the clock, I'd think you'd appreciate that." Valerie's look softened from anger to confusion.

"Why do you even care?" She asked.

"Because it keeps me human," Phantom responded, a weird look on his face. Heather looked from him to Valerie, a dark frown on her face.

_'How can you trust his words?' _the voice played in the back of her head again, _'He's already broken the first truce you two held, who's to say he won't break another…?'_

"What's with this world, anyways? Why are you guys rebelling against those creepy Kesan guys back there?"

"The Kesan don't exist in your world?" Kren asked, surprised.

"Nuh-huh," Heather shook her head, trotting to walk alongside Phantom. "Just humans and ghosts. Phantom, I'm getting tired again…"

"Already?" Valerie asked incredulously, suspicion playing at the corners of her mind. Nine years old or not, Heather was a girl with an infatuation, and there were little forces more dangerous in any world then that. The suspicion deepened when Heather shot her a pointed scowl.

"Tell you what," Phantom said, oblivious to the transaction between the girls, "I'll carry you some more if you promise not to fight with Valerie, okay?"

"Deal!" Heather agreed quickly, grinning at the ghost. Valerie shook her head as the girl climbed back onto Phantom's back.

"The Kesan are the rulers of this world," Wole answered. "For hundreds of years, they've controlled everything, but their biggest market is the trade of humans." Phantom and Valerie stopped dead, and all three newcomers looked horrified at his wording.

"…trade of humans?" Phantom repeated, his voice cracking slightly, "You mean as slaves?"

"Exactly," Kren sighed, "That's what we're rebelling against. We want to free the human race from Kesan suppression."

"We managed to get a lot of them to the sanctuary," Wole added, "But there's still a lot more the Kesan still got. That's why we need someone with powers like you! You can make lots of people fly and invisible and stuff, so getting people out of the camps should be no problem for you!" Phantom frowned.

"I'd love to help you out, kid, but there could be some serous consequences on both our worlds if the three of us don't get back home in time." He said apologetically. Wole's face fell slightly.

"Is that all you can do?" Kren asked doubtfully.

"No," Phantom sighed, "But I've got a lot of powers I don't use on the living."

"You say that as if you're dead," One of the other men snorted disdainfully.

"He is." Valerie said absently, ignoring the way that he and three other men stopped dead in their tracks. "About this Treya chick… does she really know as much as this kid says?"

"Most likely more," Kren smiled, "Treya is the daughter of a Shamaness and one of the strongest warriors the humans have to offer. She's got it all, looks, brains, strength…"

"A Shamaness?" Phantom repeated, frowning slightly. "Does she talk with any immortals?"

"Plenty," Kren answered, "There are even rumors that she's the granddaughter of one."

"Good," Phantom said, sighing in relief. "If she doesn't know who we're looking for, she probably at least knows who does."

"Yeah, but it'd help a lot more if we knew what we were looking for…" Valerie added dryly. Phantom shot her a look, but didn't say anything.

"You guys are getting us something to eat, right?" Heather asked Kren, "I'm starving!"

"HEATHER!" Valerie shouted disapprovingly. Heather made a face at her, but didn't say anything, lest she break her promise to Phantom.

"First, we'll take you to Treya," Kren said, smiling at the little girl slightly. "After that, we'll see about finding any food for you,"

"There!" Wole shouted, "Up ahead there's our base!" Danny, Valerie and Heather all looked up at the boy's shout, their eyes widening at the sight before them.

Everywhere they looked, it was tents made from animal hide and enough people to fill three 'bases' instead of just one, which filled Valerie with dread when she realized they would have to cut a path through the crowd to get to their informant. None of the three could tell what animal was used to make the tents, but Phantom couldn't resist one comment when he saw them.

"Wow, Sam'd have a heart attack if she ever saw this place…" He said in dry amusement.

_'Sam Manson?'_ Valerie thought, raising an eyebrow, _'He can't be talking about Sam Manson…'_ Though now that she thought about it, wasn't Sam hanging around after the first time Valerie attacked Phantom.

Valerie frowned deeply as she remembered the way she's stumbled upon Sam and Danny's… 'alone time' and she decided NOT to continue down that train of thought.

"This way," Kren called, leading them through the crowd. This wasn't as much trouble for them as Valerie had anticipated, as people willingly cleared a path for them after taking in their bizarre, outlandish looks.

The fact that Phantom and Heather were walking right through people wasn't helping matters, either.

"Here we are!" Wole said cheerfully, ducking into a tent, "Treya? Treya! There's some people here you've gotta meet!"

Moments later, Wole exited again, accompanied by a young woman. Phantom froze up when he saw her, a light blush working it's way across his cheeks and Valerie couldn't help but scoff slightly.

"She's not THAT pretty!" She hissed for his ears alone. Then she turned a dark glare back to the girl in question, knowing that that was a lie and absolutely refusing to admit it.

Treya was a girl maybe a few years older then them, with long, soft lavender hair braided back out of her way. Some of it was left to fall over her left eye in a very attractive-looking style, hiding one of her startling red eyes hooded by the longest eyelashes Valerie had ever seen on anyone, man or woman.

She had a soft, muscular body that Paulina would kill for, and was wearing a dark blue top with black jean shorts and animal hide boots that showed off her long legs all the way up to her thigh. A soft smile played at her lips as she studied Phantom, pretty much brushing off the rest of them, much to Valerie's annoyance.

'Just be glad Danny's not here to meet her,' Valerie told herself.

"Well, well," Treya said, not taking her eyes off the blushing Danny, "What do we have here?"

_'A bashful ghost, an annoying brat and a ghost hunter in a hurry,'_ Valerie answered mentally.

"We need your help," She added out loud. "And we're really short on time," Treya finally turned her attention to Valerie, studying her for a moment. 

"I see…" She drawled out, holding the flap of her tent open for then to enter, "Well, we'd better make this quick then, huh?" Highly suspicious that the woman was mocking her, Valerie resisted the urge to glare at her childishly as she slipped inside after Phantom and Heather.

_'When I find this Clockwork guy,'_ She promised herself mentally, _'I'm so giving him a piece of my mind!'_

* * *

"…That's quite a story," Treya said, frowning at Phantom and Valerie. They'd just gotten done telling Treya about what had transpired while Heather and Wole hunted for something for her to eat. Something that mainly _'Wasn't stinky, green, or still alive,'_ to avoid any of the world's admittedly unique cuisine.

"So we need to know if you how the person we're looking for," Phantom reminded her, "And also, we need to get there in less then a day." Treya nodded.

"I know who you're talking about," She admitted, then with a glance at Valerie, she added just as casually, "I even know why you guys are so sort on time,"

"So, you'll help us?" Phantom asked, brightening.

"Maybe," Treya said, uncrossing her legs to draw them underneath her, "That all depends if you want to help us. I've got a task I want you to do for us, something that would be perfect for someone of your talents if half of what Wole said is true," Valerie was about to agree when Phantom cut her off, suspicion coloring his tone.

"What are the terms for our agreement?" He asked. Treya smiled at him.

"You get all your information, and a free way to get you to the contact in less then five minutes, and you help me break into the main empire to get some people and things we desperately need here. It won't take long, especially not for someone how can walk right through walls."

"Can you guarantee this contact will help us?" Valerie asked, rubbing her temples to fight her headache.

"No," Treya said casually, "She's quite stubborn. Runs in her blood, I'm afraid. If she decided she doesn't like you, or that it'd be too risky, you can give up your little quest then and there. But at the very least, this gives you a chance, right?" Phantom and Valerie frowned, exchanging uncertain glances.

"…We'll do it," Valerie said at once. Treya beamed.

"Perfect!" She chirped, standing up, "We'll leave in half an hour." And, with one last sly grin at Phantom, Treya stood up and left, not seeing the brilliant blush she'd gotten from the ghost-boy. Valerie noticed it, though, and rolled her eyes.

"Boys…"

* * *

**WoM- _I hear ya, Valerie!_ 'grins' _I'm glad I finally got this up! It's nice to get a break from writing one thing too many times, though I have to get back on my Gender Confusion slump for tomorrow with SoS._ 'dizzy.' _Anyways, stay tuned for the next chapter!_**

* * *

**Thanks to;**

epobbp

Petitio Principii

Tetsukon

the sleep warrior

Divine-Red-Crayon

hikari lady

My Eternal Facade

Firefury

KatrinaKaiba

Evilevergreen

conan98002

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet

Inumaru12

Dance of the Soul

Firehedgehog

phantomshadowdragon

Shells/of/Peanuts

briedee

Writer's-BlockDP

Raving-Lunatic

* * *

**Next update;** _January 16th_

_**See you then!**_


	6. Hunting for Escape

**WoM- _Back again! Everyone catch FwD on Friday?_ '_giggles' Cute as it was as far as the dating thing went, I'm afraid you're gonna have to forget about it for this story as it severely interferes with the plot I'm planning out. And Sorry I didn't get this up yesterday. The timer kicked me off_ 'makes face,'**

* * *

**Danny:** I know all about your stupid job!  
**Valerie:** _(While shoving an ecto-gun out of sight with her foot)_ What! Who told you about that!

* * *

**Hunting for Escape**

"Are you sure about this?" Phantom asked Valerie in a whisper, slowing to keep up with her as she trailed behind the lavender-haired woman who was leading them to their destination.

"What? You seemed to trust Treya enough when you were drooling over her back there." Valerie scoffed. A blush rose to the ghost's cheeks.

"Look there's a difference between thinking a girl is pretty and knowing you can trust her," Phantom said stiffly.

"Mind telling the rest of the male population that?" Valerie asked wryly. "I mean, Fenton's the only guy I know any more with an ounce of chivalry." Danny glanced at her curiously at that.

"You wouldn't mean Danny Fenton by any chance, would you?" He asked in a casual tone. Valerie blushed.

"What's it to you if I do?" She challenged.

"Just asking," Phantom said defensively. "I mean, it's not like he's the guy you have a crush on…" Phantom shook his head and laughed at the thought as Valerie's face went even redder. This time in a combination of embarrassment and anger.

"And just what's wrong with Fenton?" She asked defensively. Phantom looked surprised at her tone before his face fell into the more serious, depressed look Valerie had ever seen on the ghost.

"Fenton's not as simple as he appears," Phantom told her softly. "I mean, he likes… someone… but he can't tell her because there's a complication in their relationship. A serious one, too."

_'How would he know?' _Valerie wondered.

"Can't be any more complicated in my life." She told the ghost out loud, crossing her arms.

"You'd be surprised…" Phantom said dryly. Then he frowned, looking at the chest of weapons he was using his powers to levitate in frustrated confusion. "There it is again!"

"What?" Valerie asked, tensing. She didn't hear anything, but that wasn't surprising. A ghosts senses were more enhanced then humans.

"I keep thinking I hear a noise in that trunk…" Phantom explained, sounding annoyed.

"**_In_** the trunk?" Valerie repeated, her eyebrow kicking up. "Why would noises be coming from _inside_ the-?" The ghost hunter stopped dead, groaning in frustration.

"Valerie?" Phantom said curiously.

"Hey you two, don't fall behind!" Treya called back to them. Phantom started to fly to catch up but Valerie grabbed his arms to stop him, making him wheel around in shock.

"Open the trunk," She said with a sighed.

"What?" Phantom asked blinking, "Why would I-?"

"Please," Valerie sighed, "Just do it," eyeing her a little cautiously, Phantom set the trunks down and walked over to the one on the left.

"What are you two doing back there?" Treya asked suspiciously.

"Shut up," Valerie called back, "There's something we need to check out, okay?" Treya glared at her, but said nothing as Phantom opened the trunk, letting out an exclamation of surprised after doing so. Valerie's glare hardened as a familiar head peeked out of the chest. "Hello, Heather,"

The nine year old glared at her babysitter in irritation as she climbed out of the trunk, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Thanks a lot," She said sarcastically, "Some babysitter you are!"

"…What?" Valerie asked, a comical look of shock on her face.

"You let me climb into a chest full of sharp swords and other dangerous stuff. That wouldn't have happened if you'd checked to make sure I was safe before leaving camp. Every good babysitter knows that!"

**_"I TOLD YOU TO STAY IN THE CAMP!" _**Valerie yelled, "I _TOLD_ you not to cause any trouble and that Phantom and I would be back in a couple hours tops! I asked you if you understood and you said '_yes_!'"

"Understanding and Obeying are two completely different things, you know…" Heather informed her haughtily. Growling, Valerie advanced on the girl.

"Whoa!" Phantom said, holding her back, "Easy, Val! She's just a kid!"

"See if I care!" Valerie snapped back, "She said she wanted to be treated like a grown up, so I'm gonna treat her like all grown up brats!"

"Phantoooom!" Heather wailed, clutching the ghost's leg as she wailed pitifully. Phantom sighed.

"Suddenly ghost hunting isn't as hard as I always thought it was…" He muttered dryly to himself.

"She has to go back," Valerie insisted. "Phantom, you've gotta take her back right now."

"But I wanna come!" Heather said, "I can help! I know I can!"

"You're too little!" Valerie snapped, "You'll just get in the way, kid!"

"Shows how much you know!" Heather snapped back.

"It's too far to turn back now," Treya said as she joined the group. "We're just wasting time arguing. Bring her along, It will make things faster in the long run." Valerie scowled at her young charge cheered, getting her way yet again.

Sighing in defeat, the ghost hunter rejoined the mismatched group as they started off again, Heather more or less skipping, Phantom hovering a few feet off the ground, Treya walking with her graceful strides while she herself muttered darkly in the back of the group.

Her muttering became more pronounced at the next question voiced by the little girl.

"Phantom, Can you carry me again?"

* * *

"Wow, can you believe the security they have here? I think they missed a few places…" Phantom said in dry sarcasm. Valerie mentally agreed with the ghost as Heather just continued to gape at the place over Phantom's shoulder. (He was carrying her again.) 

The building about five miles in front of the cliff they were standing on was made from stone, and seemed to stretch into the sky. A few small, barred windows were here and there, and Kesan guards armed to the tooth crawled all over the places, alert for any signs of danger.

"Word of the mysterious new powers of the humans have spread like wildfire," Treya whispered into his ear, placing a hand on his arm. "The Kesan fear having some of the captives here released back into the world, but cannot kill them lest they kill vital information to stomping out the resistance." Phantom's face burned at Treya's close proximity, and Valerie rolled her eyes in annoyance again.

_"So like a man to let stupid things like that distract him…'_ She thought dryly.

"Well, let's do this while we're still young." Valerie said, "And for the last time, Heather-!"

"Stay hidden and out of the way," Heather finished for her, making a face, "You're really predictable, you know that, right?" Valerie chose to ignore her this time, more concerned with the problem at hand.

"Hang on," Treya said, opening the chest, "You two should probably try and fit in a little more before we go anywhere. Here," Both human and ghost blinked in surprise when the young woman presented them with two different outfits. "You might want to change to avoid any more suspicion.

"Good point…" Phantom murmured.

"And exactly where can we change?" Valerie asked, eyeing Treya coolly.

"There are trees and bushes all over the place," Treya told her motioning to the forest around them before turning back to sort out the rest of the contents of the trunk. "And could you hurry? We really don't have time…" Sighing in frustration, Valerie trailed a little after Phantom as they headed deeper into the forest.

"If I catch you spying on me you're gonna find out what kind of life exists after the afterlife," Valerie warned her ghostly companion, "And don't try invisibility, either, I know all your tricks, ghost." The ghost cringed at the genuine threat in her voice.

"What makes you think I'd do something like that," Phantom asked innocently.

"Please," Valerie snorted. "Ghosts or not, teenage boys are all the same…"

"Ouch…" Phantom muttered as he flew off in one direction. Valerie walked off in the opposite until she felt she was a proper distance away.

Once there, she deactivated her hunting gear and chanced quickly out of her street clothes into the skintight sleeveless dark blue turtleneck with black jeans and boots. Dark blue gloves accompanied the outfit, and her hair was pulled back with a black strip of cloth.

Satisfied that she wasn't going to be able to make herself fit in any more, the ghost hunter started back to find Phantom. She didn't trust him on his own too long…

_'Why not though?' _She asked herself. _'It's not like he's actually done anything to hurt me, even though he could. Why does he feel he needs to hold back like that? Even if I'm right about him being evil, wouldn't that mean he'd just kill me and be done with it?'_

_'He's toying wit you,' _The usual voice answered her doubts, _'He wants you to question your mission, yourself. If he can confuse you enough, my dear, then he's truly won…'_ For the first time since she became a ghost hunter, Valerie doubted the voice that guided her.

Still, she wasn't ready to voice those doubts out loud.

"Okay Phantom let's- **_AAACK!_**" Valerie did an abrupt U-turn and pinned herself against a tree, her face heating up.

_'I didn't just see that,'_ She told herself frantically. But that didn't change the truth of the matter, and right now she couldn't close her eyes without picturing the way her enemy looked in the clearing, dressed only in slacked black jeans and in the process of pulling a shirt on.

"And you were talking about me…" Phantom called out teasingly from where he was changing. This did little to help Valerie's blush.

"That was an accident, okay?" She snapped, "It's not like I wanted to see that. You're nothing special to look at, Ghost-boy…"

Valerie fought the image of Phantom's well-muscled upper torso out of her head frantically, quelling her blush the best she could by turning her embarrassment to anger.

"Anyways, why haven't you finished yet?"

"Look to your left," Phantom responded. Valerie obeyed, her eyes widening when she found three unconscious Kesan. "They were snooping around, and I remembered what you said about not wanting company so I figured I had to fix that."

"How did you knock out three of them without making a sound?" Valerie asked, trying to keep the awe from her voice.

"Let's just say they didn't see it coming…" Phantom told her absently, "Done,"

Valerie turned as the ghost re-entered the clearing. He was wearing a shirt now, thankfully, a black sleeveless one, but a shirt none the less. A black belt was at his hip, and black and silver fingerless gloves made their way up to his elbows, with white bandages wrapped around both wrists.

He was in the process of clasping a black cloak at his neck, pulling the hood up after doing so. Valerie felt a cold chill run through her at the affect this had on his haunting green eyes…

"We should probably get going. Treya must be wondering what's taking us so long."

"Yeah," Valerie said, tearing her eyes from the ghost and trying to settle herself. Normally ghosts didn't scare her, but the sight of those eyes under that hood was just plain spooky…

Treya smiled at Phantom as the who returned, looking proud of her handwork as the light cloak billowed open now and then to reveal the outfit underneath.

"Impressive…" She said, "If I may be so daring, you look better in our clothes then you do that silly out of place outfit from before…" Valerie found herself faintly annoyed with the woman for some reason, and Heather was busy giving the leader of the Resistance an evil look. "The cloak does well to hide your strange hair, but nothing can be done about your eyes,"

"Can we just get this over with?" Valerie interrupted her loudly.

"Very well." Treya shrugged. "Help me with these. I've separated them into two piles we can give to the prisoners after we free them. That way they can defend themselves while Phantom brings them back here as he can carry them,"

"Fine," Valerie sighed, checking her own weapons (Which she'd secured to her new outfit,) before doing as the other girl ordered. "How many people are we rescuing, anyways?"

"Ten," Treya answered without pause.

"Ready when you are, ladies," Phantom told them as they finished. Treya smiled at him, wrapping her free arm around his neck and pressing closer to his body.

"Then by all means," She purred. Valerie glared at her and subtly stomped on Phantom's foot when she saw him go crimson again, earning a yelp of pain from the ghost.

While she didn't like Phantom, she was coming to downright hate Treya, whose overly confident attitude and superior air was really starting to get to her. She acted as though Valerie was beneath her, and only Phantom was worth any attention in their group.

Besides, she wasn't about to pass up a chance to hurt Phantom…

"Let's go," Valerie said sharply, ignoring the amusement on Treya's face.

Without another word, Phantom turned the three of them invisible, flying above the guards and into the stone building. Treya gasped sharply as they left the ground, her grip on the ghost tightening fearfully until she managed to convince herself it was safe enough to relax.

"Go down," She whispered softly into the ghosts ear after they passed some more guards, "All the people we're looking for are kept in the lowest basement level."

"Got it," Danny whispered back. And without any further warning, he took them downward, through one level after another at a dizzying pace.

"Stop!" Treya whispered at last as they passed through a cell where three men were chained to a wall. Two of them jerked up at her voice, but the third, who looked most desolate and underfed, made no move to acknowledge them. Without a word, Phantom made them tangible again, eliciting gasps of surprise from the two men.

"Who…?" One of them started, his voice hoarse and parched. Then his unfocused gaze settled on Treya. "…Treya?"

The girl smiled as she left Phantom's side, dropping the weapons she carried to the floor as she hugged the man.

"Father," She murmured happily.

"How did you get here?" He asked her, his eyes darting back to the haunting green glow of Phantom's, "Who are they?"

"We're here to free you, father," Treya explained to him. "You and all the others. These are humans of another world, and they came to help us."

"Just for today," Valerie reminded her sternly, too busy listening for guards to correct the 'human' part, "You've gotta hold up your end of the deal, remember?"

"Deal?" the man beside Treya's father repeated blankly, "Treya, what-?"

"Later," Treya promised, "Right now we need to get you three to safety…" She reached for a pocket then froze, paling. "My lock picks!" She gasped. "I can't believe I forgot-!"

"I got it," Phantom said, reaching for the chains that bound all three men to the wall. Before anyone could ask what he was doing, he turned them intangible, allowing the men to slip free easily. The third, hollow-looking man seemed to come back to life as he rubbed his bruised wrists in wonder.

"Your powers are very impressive, Phantom," Treya said, staring at the chains as they turned tangible again. Phantom shrugged.

"I'm not doing anything other ghosts can't do," He told her firmly.

"Well I can't say I've met another ghost, so it's impressive to me," Treya insisted just as firmly, though with a soft, affectionate smile playing at the corner of her lips. Valerie rolled her eyes at the girl's actions, tensing at a sound she heard coming down the halls.

"We've got company," She announced to the group.

"But the others…" Treya protested. "We have to free the others,"

"Do we really have time for this?" Valerie snapped.

"Make time," Treya responded coolly, "or you're as good as dead and Phantom and Heather get catapulted back to their own dimension." Valerie jerked to look at the girl at that.

"What?" She asked, wide eyed. Phantom shifted uneasily.

Treya didn't have time to answer her, though, as Kesan guards came upon them with an exclamation of surprise.

Springing into action, the two fairly fit men hastily gathered their arms, which were still scattered across the floor. Valerie and Phantom Tensed as well, preparing to fight.

"No!" Treya shouted to Phantom, as the Kesan fumbled to get the door open, "Get all the men and women on this level out of here! Start with the ones who look most anemic!" Phantom hesitated before nodding.

"Right," He said, grabbing up the underfed man in the cell they were in and flying through the wall. The two men left in the cell and all the guards stopped all action to watch in amazement, something Treya and Valerie took immediate advantage of.

"Hah!" Valerie screamed, charging the open door to knock two of the Kesan back with one kick before flipping around and landing on the ground in a crouching position.

Treya growled out and took out three more with a sweep of her staff, jumping on the head of a forth before landing next to Valerie.

"Is that really the best your dimension has to offer?" Treya mocked slightly.

"Not even close," Valerie growled back. "You?"

"Of course not," The two girls smiled at each other, but there was no warmth in the expressions. Then, as if on a signal, they both turned back to the fight.

It was pandemonium everywhere you looked. As Phantom rescued the sick and desolate, he also freed the stronger fighters, adding more strength to the human's side, and the Kesan kept pouring into the hall from the stairwells at both sides, meaning the room as a crowd of fighting bodies before long.

_'This is why I work alone,' _Valerie thought with a growl as she punched out the guy who'd raised a sword to bring down on her. As he hit the ground, someone knocked into her,

"Hey!" Valerie snapped, glaring at the human.

"Sorry," He grunted, throwing the Kesan that were trying to attack him off. Valerie rolled her eyes in annoyance and turned back to the fight.

That was when she noticed a large group of Kesan literally fall through the floor.

"Ghost-boy's done," She announced dryly to Treya as she kicked back on of the Kesan the ghost had missed.

"Everyone fall back!" Treya called out, "Get into a group! Now!" The humans hesitated before following her orders, doing their best to defend themselves at the same time.

"Time to go?" Phantom's voice asked playfully.

"If it's not asking too much," Treya responded with a smile.

"Everybody hold on to a neighbor as tight as you can." He ordered. Valerie flinched as four different people grabbed her before she could make a move. Suddenly, the whole group glowed for a moment and next thing Valerie knew, she was back on the cliff they'd left Heather in.

"Cool!" Heather exclaimed, jumping away from the man she'd just given water to in favor of hugging Phantom's leg as he landed.

"That's a new trick," Valerie noted, taking in the way Phantom looked very drained all of a sudden.

"Teleportation," He gasped out. "Glad I finally perfected it. I was kinda worried I'd end up in someone's bathroom again for a second." Valerie's eyebrow kicked up at that, but she decided that she really, _reeeeeeally_ didn't wanna know.

"Everyone who's fit help the wounded," Treya ordered, "We can't stay here long, the Kesan are going to come looking for us at any time now." Everyone sprang to do as the girl said, despite the fact that she was younger then most of them.

They'd just prepared to leave when a bone-chilling roar filled the skies, making the humans freeze.

"Yovven," One of them whispered hoarsely.

"What?" Phantom asked, "What's a Yovven?"

"Demons," Treya answered, sounding frightened, "Apparitions under the command of the Kesan. We have to leave here, NOW!"

"Too late," Valerie said grimly as three of the flying creatures that'd attacked them earlier came into view. What had her attention, though, were the creatures on their backs.

They certainly looked like demons. Large, unattractive things with murky brown-green skin and bulging muscles. Angry yellow eyes were fixed on the crowd of humans below, and Valerie had to restrain herself from throwing up at the sight of them alone.

"They mistook me for THAT?" Phantom exclaimed, sounding gravely insulted. Valerie had to smile.

"I dunno, Ghost-boy," She said lightly, "I think I see a resemblance…" The ghost hunter almost laughed at the dirty look Phantom shot her after that, but another roar from the creatures above killed it in her throat.

"Get everyone out of here," Valerie told Treya, "Phantom and I can handle these Frankenstein rejects." The girl hesitated for a moment.

"Right," She said at last, "Meet us at the camp as soon as you're done here."

And without a backward glance, Treya ordered her small group to move out, which they did so eagerly.

"Any preference?" Phantom asked her.

"I call the ugly one," Valerie said, loading her guns.

"That narrows it down," Phantom snorted.

Any more conversation was cut short by the three monsters leaping from the air and landing in front of them with a thunderous 'BOOM!' before straightening up to face them.

Never mind that the jump had at last a hundred foot drop…

Roaring, the three monsters advanced as one on the two who were brave enough to face them. Valerie and Phantom both sprang into action as one, picking a Yovven to concentrate an attack on.

Valerie fired her gun three times, twice into the Yovven's chest, and once onto his face. He didn't so much as flinch as he continued his advance, and the girl had to jump to avoid getting crushed by the monster's sledge-hammer-like left hand, which was easily twice as tall as she was.

Phantom wasn't having any more luck on his part. He was firing one furious ecto-blast after another at his Yovven and it barely slowed the creature down. He scowled when the monster swung at him with his scythe-like left hand, grabbing his wrist and flipping the creature (Who probably weighted three tons to Phantom's 115 lbs soaking wet,) over his head and making him intangible mid-flip to bury the Yovven into the ground up to his shoulders.

"Any ideas?" Phantom called to Valerie as the two of them found themselves side by side again." The Yovven he buried broke through, climbing out to join his brothers as they advanced on the ghost and ghost hunter yet again.

"Not getting killed?" Valerie offered. For once in her life, she was truly at a loss.

"That helps," Phantom snorted, falling back into a defensive stance as the creatures drew nearer. Valerie did the same, wracking her brain for ideas.

_'Think… think…'_

"What about that wail thing of yours?" Valerie asked.

"I don't think I have the power to pull it off," Phantom said doubtfully, "Maybe if I hadn't teleported us, but now…" Valerie sighed. Perfect… could this day GET any better?

Just then, a rock flew and hit one of the creatures, and everyone stopped short in surprised.

"You leave them alone!" Heater called out angrily from where she stood atop a boulder, glaring at the three Yovven. Growling in annoyance, the Yovven turned their attentions to her instead…

"No!" Phantom and Valerie yelled as one. Phantom grabbed Valerie's hand and flew at the Yovven at top speed, letting her go as they neared.

Valerie drilled her heels into one of the creature's head before jumping up to avoid the scythed one from earlier and landing on the boulder, pulling Heather to safety just as the sledgehammer came down on where they were standing.

"Remind me to yell at you later," Valerie growled to Heather.

"You're welcome," Heather responded. Valerie rolled her eyes and turned to check on Phantom, relieved to see him throwing one Yovven into another with all his strength, sending them tumbling down the cliff.

"That should be the end of it…" Valerie sighed in relief. Heather, on the other hand, looked puzzled.

"Hey, weren't there three of them…?" She asked. It took Valerie a second to process what the question meant for them, but when she did her stomach dropped when she finally heard the soft growling behind them…

Without even thinking, Valerie pushed Heather away with all her might, sending her flying into a tree with a painful yelp. Valerie couldn't get out of the way in time, though, and a crushing pain enveloped her as what felt like a stone mallet smacked into her…

"VALERIE!" She heard Phantom yell. This was followed soon after by the same noises and earth shaking effects as his first Ghostly Wail, and Valerie had just enough strength left in her to open her eyes and see a panting Phantom on his hands and knees, Heather already rushing to his side.

A white beam of light circled Phantom's waist, and Heather gasped in shock but Valerie didn't have time to think about this as darkness swallowed her whole…

* * *

**WoM- 'Blinking innocently' _You know, I was reading back through this and thought_ 'Hey, it's been a while since I've had a proper cliffie for Unmasked!' _And I certainly didn't want you guys to feel left out, so…_ 'shrugs' _There! Now I feel better!_ 'grins happily,'**

* * *

**Thanks to;**

My Eternal Facade

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conan98002

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the sleep warrior

Firehedgehog

The Halfa Wannabe

Inumaru12

Firefury

* * *

**Next Update;** _January 23rd_

_**See you then!**_


	7. Hunting for Rest

**WoM- _Such vivid language!_ 'giggles' _You know, I can really see where people like Vlad come from; It's just WAY too much fun to be evil! This chapter's a little slow, but it picks up again next chapter!_**

* * *

_(Valerie sees Danny knocked into a few boxes after his fight with Technus at the mall)_  
**Valerie:** Oh! Hi, I didn't expect to see you here.  
**Danny:** I didn't expect to be here.

* * *

**Hunting for Rest**

The first thing Valerie noticed when she woke up was that it smelled funny. Almost like a sickly sweet version of how the gym smelled on Fitness Fridays in sixth period, which was not a fun smell in the least.

Groaning slightly, the ghost hunter opened her eyes, and the blue mossy-jello substance growing on the roof of the cave she was in swam into view. Her headache was a lot worse now, and Valerie wasn't sure if that was from the hit she'd taken or from the elapsed time.

"You're up!" hazy green eyes focused on the all-too familiar face that suddenly hovered over hers, just inches away.

"Heather?" Valerie said, confused.

"Way to take a hit, lightweight." Heather said dryly. "You've been out for two hours now." Groaning again, Valerie sat up, too wracked with pain at even that slight movement to properly glare at the little girl.

"Where's Phantom?" She asked, looking around. Heather bit her lip.

"…He's out looking for food," She said at last. "Since you're both bedridden for a while, he probably figured this was the bet time for a break."

"Bedridden?" Valerie repeated, "**_Phantom? _**What do you mean…?"

"He just… isn't exactly himself right now…" Heather said in a careful tone. Valerie's eyebrow kicked up as she studied the younger girl.

"Is there something you're not telling me?" She asked suspiciously.

"No!" Heather said quickly, holding her hands in front of her in a defensive sort of way.

"You can't honestly expect me to believe that, girl," Valerie snorted. Heather glared at her.

"Well, if you really want to know," She said stiffly, "I was wondering about how a great, nice guy like Danny and a super cool guy like Phantom could both have crushes on a girl like you," Valerie gaped at her.

"What?" She asked, bewildered. She thought for sure that the concussion she must've gotten from that hit was screwing with her hearing, because there was no way Heather just said what Valerie thought she said.

"Do you really need it spelled out for you?" Heather responded coolly.

"First off, Danny only sees me as a friend," Valerie glared at the little girl, "His other girl friend Sam Manson has a better chance then I do," It felt bitter admitting the words out loud, but they had to be said. The arrogant little brat had to know her place. "Second, Phantom doesn't **_even_** see me as a friend!"

"Puh-leeze!" Heather rolled her eyes. "How much more obvious can he make it? The way he saves you, the way all his attention is spent on you, even some of the things he's said! Can't you tell that's why I've been so hard on you and didn't leave you alone with Phantom? You're my rival! He even came close to admitting it point blank while you were unconscious," Valerie stared at Heather for a full minute.

"You are one messed up little girl. You know that, right?" She said dryly, "Phantom wouldn't care if I was alive or dead,"

"Then why would he save you?" Heather asked, glaring at her, "And why would he let you live when you fight him?"

"LET me live?" Valerie repeated, glaring back and bristling in insult.

"Admit it, Grey, you couldn't last a second against something like the Ghostly Wail," Heather said, crossing her arms. "Danny lets you live because he likes you. A lot. Maybe even more then he's willing to admit."

"You're insane," Valerie sighed irritably, "And anyways I'm not interested in Phantom, okay?" Heather's dark look changed into something unreadable for a second.

"That's right," She said, her tone far too light and conversational for Valerie's tastes "You like Danny, don't you?" Valerie blushed.

"That's none of your business, okay?" She responded, looking away.

_'I can't believe I'm talking about my pretty much non-existent love life with a nine year old.' _She thought dryly. _'What's next?'_

"So what would you do if Danny was… oh… _friends_ with Phantom?" Heather asked. Valerie stared at her.

"That's not possible," She said firmly. "Danny's parents are ghost hunters. They'd never allow it."

**_"…They are!" _**Heather asked, genuinely shocked. "Oh, man! Poor Danny! THAT'S gotta be awkward!"

"Huh?" Valerie said, her eyebrow kicking up.

"Uuh, nothing!" Heather coughed nervously, "Never mind!" Valerie sighed. Normally, she'd be suspicious, but right not her headache was too painful to let her concentrate on anything else. "But if Danny found away around that and became friends with Phantom, how would you react?" Valerie mulled over this in silence for a while.

"I dunno," She admitted at last. "I guess I'll just grit my teeth and put up with it the best I can."

"Really?" Heather asked her, blinking.

"Danny cared about me when no one else did," Valerie said with a soft smile. "He's cute, and fun and just someone I love to be around. He can get a little goofy and clumsy at times, but it's all part of his charm. I just…"

"You really, really like him, don't you?" Heather finished softly, giving Valerie a searching look.

"Yeah," Valerie sighed, "I guess I do." Then her eyebrow kicked up as she asked the little girl, "What brought this on, anyways?" Heather jumped, then blushed.

"Oh, you know, just thinking!" Heather answered.

"Well think to yourself," Valerie said, closing her eyes and resting against the wall. "I've got a killer headache and probably not all that much time left."

"One more question," Heather said stubbornly. Valerie rolled her eyes. "Why did you save me back there? I thought you hated me!"

"Look, my body just reacted okay?" Valerie sighed, "And hate should have nothing to do with saving people in my line of work. Like 'em or hate 'em, everyone has an equal life, right?" There was a long lapse of silence.

"…You're still an arrogant jerk,"

"HEA-THER!"

* * *

Valerie's eyes opened again as she heard movement at the mouth of the cave, tensing and groping for a gun. But then only Phantom came into view, his arms loaded with what may have passed as some sort of exotic fruits in their world, she relaxed. 

'If that's not a sign I've been in this crazy world too long, I don't know what is,' Valerie told herself wryly.

"You're up," Phantom said, looking relieved. He flew over to her, setting the food down on the ground, "How is your head?"

"Fine," Valerie lied. It felt like a marching band had taken up residency in her skull. "What's all this,"

"Food," Phantom sighed, "I wasn't sure If everything was edible, so I only picked things I remembered seeing humans in the Base eating. We need to gather all our strength before we move out, those… things are still out there."

"All of them?" Valerie asked in surprise as she took the fruit the ghost offered her. "What about the one that got hit with your Wail thing?"

"Dazed, but still alive," Phantom sighed. "I'm not sure if it was because I wasn't at full strength, or because they're so durable. I mean, the other two fell down a 200 drop bluff and just climbed right back up."

"Let's hope we get outta here before we have to test that." Valerie said grimly. Then, remembering what Heather said, the girl added, "Hey, I thought you were supposed to be hurt too…"

"I'm fine," Phantom sighed, "I heal fast. All ghosts do."

"Nice to know," Valerie said in a droll tone.

"Phantom!" Heather whined, "I'm thirsty!" The ghost smiled at the little girl, ruffling her hair as he stood.

"Sorry," He said, "I'll go get some water for you two. Be right back," Heather watched intently as the ghost flew out of the cave waiting for a while before turning to Valerie.

"See what I mean?" She asked pointedly, "You're the one his attention went right to without even asking for it. I had to work to get him to notice me."

"Since when is whining work?" Valerie asked, thought doubt was starting to settle in. He had seemed pretty worried about her… could Heather have a point.

_'Well, what can I do about it if she does?'_ Valerie asked herself sullenly. _'I can't control how Phantom feels, and I'm not about to return his feelings…'_

_'But you can take advantage of it,'_ the voice whispered to her slyly, _'lead him along, and then…'_

"NO!" Heather yelped slightly in alarm at Valerie's abrupt yell, falling to the ground and clutching her heart.

"What the heck's your problem?" Heather demanded, glaring at the girl, "Man, you're even crazier then I first thought…" Valerie ignored her.

She could never allow herself to even think of doing something like that. It was far, FAR lower then anything the ghosts had done to her, and Valerie couldn't imagine doing something like that to anyone, living or dead.

It was true she'd led boys on to get what she'd wanted in the past, few popular girl's hadn't, but what kind of monster would manipulate someone's feelings to lead them to their death?

_'Phantom's already dead, remember?'_ The voice reminded her, _'Really, you're doing everyone a favor by putting him out of his miserable existence… himself included.'_

"Back,"

Blinking, Valerie looked up as Phantom re-entered the cave, giving a container of water to Heather (Who took it happily) before turning to hold one out to her. Valerie stared at it, hesitant.

"Don't worry," Phantom said with a wryly smile, "I didn't poison it,"

"Why wouldn't you?" Valerie challenged as she took it, "We're enemies, after all."

"Only because you want to be," Phantom reminded her. Valerie eyed him curiously.

"And you don't?" She asked, "Ghosts are nothing but trouble."

"Not all of us," Phantom sighed, Resting against the wall opposite of Valerie, "Some ghosts just want to be left alone."

"You can't expect me to believe that you're one of those." Valerie snorted, "Not with all the fighting you do," A strange look came over Phantom's face then.

"I don't pick those fights," He said quietly, "I'm the only one who can stop those ghosts from hurting innocent people, from turning the human world upside down." He looked her right in the eye, and Valerie could tell he was being serious, "But I only do it because I have to. I don't like fighting. I never wanted to be anything more then a normal kid. Sometimes I just want things to go back to the way they used to be." Valerie felt a chill go through her.

His words were almost a carbon copy of her own. She could hear the longing for peace in his voice, the nightmares she'd had night after night since she became a ghost hunter…

"Why do you care?" Valerie asked, "You're a ghost too, why don't you just act like one?" Danny smiled wryly.

"Let's just say I'm not like other ghosts," He told her. Heather giggled, and shot Valerie a smug look. The ghost hunter glared back, annoyed that the two were keeping secrets from her.

"And just what makes you so different?" Valerie pressed. Phantom didn't respond, and Valerie realized he was resting. Huffing in annoyance, the girl turned to her water, taking a swig. She made a face at the foreign taste, before falling back to rest against the wall of the cave.

She studied the ghost in front of her, her dark look softening when she noticed that he looked even paler then usual, and bruises were already well-form on his arms and around the base of his neck. He was pretty scratched up as well, and there was a nasty burn scorch on his right boot, as if he'd stepped on a bomb.

'He really did take a hit…' She thought.

"So, what now?" Heather asked, looking between Phantom and Valerie. Phantom's eyes opened, and the two exchanged looks.

"…I don't know," Valerie admitted after a long lapse of silence. Phantom gave her a humorless smile.

"Me either," He said. Valerie couldn't help but return the look.

_'Dad's right,'_ She thought, _'I really am just a kid who's in way over her head.'_ Glancing up, she had to add, _'And Phantom's right there with me.'_

* * *

**WoM- _I know it's short, but it picks up again next chapter. I know everyone must be going nuts waiting to find out if Val's gonna find out._ 'smiles cheerfully,' _I love being so mean!_**

* * *

**Thanks to;**

Evilevergreen

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* * *

**Next update;** _January 30th_

_**See you then!**_


	8. Hunting for Promises

**WoM- 'dizzy,' _Too many stories, too little time! After I finished one of my fics, I think I'll break off from the whole 'one-update-every-single-day' thing. It's getting way too hectic, especially when that little thing called life interferes. Anywho, here's chapter 8. I'm not sure how close we are to the ending, but I'm expecting it to fall around either late February or early March._**

* * *

**Danny:** _(To Valerie)_ Look, I don't wanna hurt you.  
**Valerie:** What makes you think you can?

* * *

**Hunting for Promises**

_'This is truly the lowest point of my career as a ghost hunter…'_

"How much further?" Valerie demanded.

"Can't say," Phantom grunted back, "But I think we're almost halfway there." Valerie sighed in annoyance.

"Is there any way to pick up the pace?" She demanded, "We've been here over 19 hours already! We're running out of time!

"Hey, in case you haven't noticed, I'm doing the best I can," Phantom snapped back sounding very irritated.

Then again, he sort of did have a right to be. He hadn't eaten anything since they got to this strange world, and the constant use of his powers was starting to show clear signs of draining him. Still, he wasn't as bad as Valerie, who still didn't have the strength to stand.

_'I'm so glad that the only person here to witness this also seems to have to problem with blackmailing me,'_ Valerie thought bitterly, glaring at the little girl walking beside Phantom, who was carrying the ghost hunter in the same fashion Heather herself usually rode. Heather looked unimpressed with the look.

"Phantom?" Heather called out in a singsong voice, "When we get back to our home, you'll still visit me, right?"

"Sure," Phantom responded with a smile for the girl.

"Great!" Heather said enthusiastically. "Cause you know my Uncle's supposed to take me to a Costume Party this Friday, so I was kinda hoping you'd come too!" Valerie rolled her eyes. She didn't know what was more disturbing, the nine year old's blatant flirting or the fact that the ghost still hadn't noticed it.

_'And here I thought only Fenton was that blissfully ignorant of things like that…'_ She thought dryly. Then she sighed. Phantom missed it, but for some reason beyond Valerie's comprehension, Heather managed to catch it.

"Something wrong, Valerie?" She asked innocent. Valerie stiffened. She didn't like the way the girl said her name like that…

"No," Valerie said at once, "Everything's fine," Heather gave Valerie a little smirk.

"You're not thinking about your boyfriend, are you?" She asked, her tone as innocent as can be. Valerie's eyes narrowed. She knew the girl was mocking her, and before she knew what'd happened, she was saying things before thinking them through.

"So what if I am?" She challenged, "At least Danny thinks of me as at least a friend, which is more then you can say about the guy you like," Instead of glaring like Valerie thought she would, Heather paled rapidly and glanced quickly at Phantom, who'd stopped dead when he worked that statement out.

"Wait, you like Danny?" Phantom asked loudly, "As in Danny _Fenton_?" Valerie frowned. She couldn't see Phantom's face but he sounded shocked for some reason…

"Yeah, so?" Valerie said. Then, remembering her earlier reservations, she added, "And if you lay a hand on him, so help me-!"

"Relax," Phantom said, "I won't hurt him." Then, in a would-be casual voice, he added, "So, how much do you like Fenton, anyways?"

"Enough," Valerie answered.

"Oh, that helps," Phantom snorted.

Valerie rolled her eyes. Then, remembering that she owed him as it was, she added (begrudgingly.) "I dunno how else to put it, okay? I mean, I really like the guy, okay?"

"Why?" Phantom pressed. Then he quickly added, "I mean, last I heard you hated his guts," Valerie cringed slightly as she remembered some of the things she'd said about Danny while trapped in the Ghost Zone with Phantom.

"I dunno." Valerie admitted with a sighed, "I got to know him, and it turned out he was a really fun guy. He's sweet and really easy to talk to and just hang out with. It's like… when I'm with him, I can pretend I'm normal,"

"Who says you have to pretend?" Phantom asked, "You seem pretty normal to me,"

"Right, because every girl keeps an arsenal in her room and spends her free time hunting down undead spirits," I said sarcastically.

"Every girl in my life, anyways…" Phantom muttered dryly.

"Huh?" Valerie said.

"Nothing," Phantom sighed. "So anyways, you'd really go out with m- Fenton if he asked you out?"

"Maybe," Valerie blushed slightly, "I mean, I want to, but not if it means I end up showing up on dates late because of ghost problems, or Danny gets attacked just because he's my boyfriend."

"Maybe he won't care." Phantom said casually, "Or maybe he'll understand. His parents do hunt ghosts for a living. He's probably used to stuff like that by now,"

"But I don't want him hurt because of me," Valerie said with a sigh. "And I don't want to keep secrets from him. Not if I don't have to, anyways…"

"So you're serious about him?" Phantom clarified.

"Yeah, I guess," Valerie admitted.

"What if he were, oh, I dunno… A ghost or something? Would you like him then?" Valerie was startled at the strange question.

"Why does that matter?" She asked, "Danny doesn't like me back. Everyone knows he's in love with Manson. I even saw them kissing once when I was chasing you. And don't tell me you didn't see it, it was kinda hard to miss."

"That was a fake-out make-out!" Phantom said, his tone harsh enough to make Valerie jump.

"A whaty-what now?" Valerie asked, her eyebrow kicking up, "How would you know, anyways?" Valerie felt the ghost's muscles tense.

"…Uh…" Just then, a loud roar cut off anything else Phantom might've said, and a strange creature came out to attempt to take a swipe at Phantom and Valerie before dodging back into the forest

Phantom (the only one who had both the energy and ability to fight even if he couldn't take out anything more major then a mediocre ghost in their world at his current energy level) cursed slightly before setting Valerie down to go ahead without them and deal with the problem.

"You guys wait here," He said before taking off. Valerie rolled her eyes after he left.

"As if we have a choice," She muttered dryly under her breath. Turning her attention towards an oddly silent Heather, she decided to address another subject, "See, Heather? I told you he didn't like me. If he did, he'd be jealous that I liked another guy or something."

Heather gave her a blank look, before sighing and shaking her head. "You're an idiot." She announced dryly, "You both are. You know that, right?"

_'…What's that supposed to mean?'_

* * *

Valerie still hadn't figured that out by the time the three of them reached camp, to the absolute shock of all the humans there. They didn't even bother hiding it when the three passed by, and Valerie became uncomfortably aware of how weak she had to look to them.

"You're alive!" Wole said happily as he ran over, "I can't believe you're still alive! Treya said you were attacked by three Yovven! Three! No one's ever lived through three Yovven! Not even when there were ten humans, forget just two!"

"Think she could've mention that before the fight?" Valerie asked irritably, fuming over what the boy had told her. That was vital information as far as the ghost hunter was concerned, and the fact that Treya knew this and still left them to fight the monsters blindly…

"It doesn't matter now," Phantom said. For the first time, Valerie noticed how exhausted he sounded. As nice as it was to know that the ghost did indeed have a limit, she would've preferred to have found it in more agreeable conditions.

"Valerie's hurt, and Danny really, really needs to rest," Heather piped up, taking charge as the only healthy one of their group (Never mind the fact that she hadn't actually done anything other then throw a rock) "Plus Treya needs to keep her end of the bargain and help us go back home."

"Right," Wole nodded, "Follow me, you can rest in Treya's tent, and she's a really good medic,"

_'Of course she is…'_ Valerie thought sullenly. If it turned out she played the piano too and knew more then one language, the ghost hunter would be tempted to murder her on the grounds that no woman should be allowed to seem so freakin' perfect.

At least in the eyes of shallow, self absorbed men.

"Your back!" Treya said, her eyes wide as she leaped to her feet.

"Is it really that much of a surprise?" Phantom asked dryly, "If I wasn't about to pass out, I'd take offence to that."

"Danny needs a room to sleep," Heather said, "And Valerie needs someone to look at her injuries."

"You can take the spare room, Phantom," Treya said walking over and helping Valerie off Phantom's back. "And you can come with me to my room. All my medicinal supplies are there."

Scowling slightly, Valerie begrudgingly left Phantom and Heather and headed to the room, supported all the way by Treya. Halfway through the door, Heather's ultra sweet tone made her roll her eyes in exasperation.

"I'll stay with you, Phantom, so I can wake you up if something comes!"

"Thanks," Phantom said, sounding genuinely grateful. Valerie wondered for a moment if maybe ghosts were more vulnerable in their sleep or something, and made a mental note to ask someone later. Maybe Mr. Masters or one of the Fentons…

"You've certainly done a number on yourself," Treya said dryly as she set to work.

"Maybe because I prefer to fight for myself," Valerie shot back, earning a glare from the girl.

"You don't know what we face here," She said coolly, "And you have no idea what kinds of horrors we see.

"Can't be as bad as mine," Valerie said defiantly. "In my world, few humans have the ability and resources to fight ghosts. I'm all alone,"

"You don't seem that alone with Phantom," Treya said, "Are you two intimate?"

"No!" Valerie said, horrified. Treya's eyebrow kicked up.

"It was just a question," She said in dry amusement, "After all, Phantom's far from unattractive as I'm sure you've noticed, and he seems quite attached to you…"

"Why does everyone think he likes me?" Valerie asked in annoyance. "And what makes you think I like him? Nothing's going on between us, okay? As a matter of fact, up until we came here we were bitter enemies. We hated each other,"

"I don't think Phantom hates you," Treya said absently, "He's passionate. If he dislikes someone, I think it would be far too obvious. Around you, he is too playful for it to translate into hatred."

"Yeah, yeah," Valerie rolled her eyes, annoyed.

"And as far as your hatred of him goes…" Treya smiled, "Hate him all you want, but you're still a woman before you're a fighter. I have no doubts that you've had at least some primal attraction to Phantom, even if you won't admit it." An image of the ghost half naked flashed through Valerie's head again, and her cheeks burned before she could stop them. In an attempt to keep Treya from seeing this, she hastily turned her head away.

"You're insane," She murmured stiffly. Then she remembered something and frowned slightly as she turned back to face the other girl. "Uh, hey, Treya?"

"Hm?"

"You mentioned earlier that I would be the only one to die if we didn't get out of here in a day, right?"

"That's right," Treya nodded, "Phantom and Heather were not the ones to open the box. They'll just go straight back to their home."

_'So all this fighting Phantom is doing… is for me…?'_ Valerie thought, swallowing back a lump that seemed to work it's way in her throat.

_'It is all deception,' _The voice in her head told her, _'He probably even tricked you into opening the box. He's a ghost, Valerie, and he's not to be trusted…'_

"You should be able to walk again soon," Treya said, standing, "When you can, I'll take you three to Grandmother. She should take you to your home." Valerie's eyebrow kicked up.

"Grandmother?" She repeated.

"Well, there are actually seven or eight greats in front of that, but just saying grandmother is much simpler." Treya shrugged. "Though I must admit, I'm a little put out,"

"Oh?" Valerie's eyebrow kicked up. She half expected to hear treya say something about missing Phantom…

"I watched you fight today. It's a very interesting style, and not unattainable by humans like Phantom's is. Part of me was hoping I could ask about it before you left," Treya explained to the surprised ghost hunter.

"Uh, thanks," Valerie blushed and grinned proudly, "I'm a ninth degree black belt in my world. Not much help against ghosts, considering they're intangible half the time anyways, but no mugger or rapist is ever gonna walk it off after trying to mess with me," Treya laughed at the girl's tone.

"I must say, the more I see of you and Phantom, the more interested I am in this world of yours," Treya said, crossing her arms, "Especially if there are more men there as strong and handsome as your Phantom," Valerie wasn't sure if she approved of Treya calling Phantom 'hers,' but she shook it off.

"There are better men out there then Phantom," She insisted stubbornly.

"So there is someone you are intimate with, then?" Treya smiled secretively.

"It's not like that," Valerie said quickly, blushing.

"But you want it to be," Treya stated, not missing the girl's expression.

"We're friends," Valerie said stubbornly, "And considering what my life's like, it's probably better to stay what way. So for now, Danny's just gotta stay the cute guy I go to school with and who helps me in science because he knows more about astrology then I do and who I help with trigonometry because he loses his head over anything more complicated then basic adding and subtracting." Her look had softened into a slight smile as she added the last part.

She really did have a lot of fun with Danny Fenton. One of the things that was so great about him was that he seemed willing to ignore all the ghost weirdness in Amity to just concentrate on being with her, and it was easy for her to do the same with him. It was like…

…Like they could both just pretend stuff like that never happened to them. Danny wasn't the weirdo son of the freaky ghost hunters, and Valerie wasn't the penniless girl who was once on top. Things like that didn't matter, and they could just have fun and be themselves.

Just then, the door opened up and a burly man stepped inside the room. Treya stiffened when she saw him, getting to her feet with an unreadable expression.

"Who are you," She demanded. "You aren't one of my men," The man grinned and stepped aside, and Valerie and Treya gasped in union when they saw Wole and Heather being detained by two more humans, both grunting as they struggled.

"You're coming with us, woman," The man said in a rather sadistic amusement, "You and you're little pets…" His eyes met Valerie's as he said this, and all the ghost hunter could do was glare back…

* * *

**WoM- _Bad Sadie! Bad!_ 'grins sheepishly' _I'd like to say I didn't plan this, but…_ 'chuckles nervously,' _Anywho, Like I said before I don't think this story'll be too much longer. I might do a sequel, though, if I can work it in with my ten billion other stories. _'Makes face.' _As soon as I finish this story, though, I'm probably gonna free up a day since warmer weather is rapidly approaching, and that can only mean one thing… trips to the cabin every weekend, no computer._**

_**NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_

* * *

**Thanks to;**

JPElles

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Sammy

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* * *

**_Next update;_** _February 6th_

_**See you then! **_


	9. Hunting for Innocence

**WoM- _No trips this weekend! I sense one fast approaching, though, so be forewarned. In the meantime, I want to state here and now that I DESPISE with a passion! It's totally screwing up my update scheduled with it's glitchy system!_ 'grumbles and growls.' _At any rate, here's your story_ (And as totally biased as this is, I think it's my favorite chapter in this story). _Enjoy!_ 'runs off to eat more of the Pocky her mom bought because it was on sale,'**

* * *

_(School bell rings)_  
**Valerie:** Later for you, punk!  
**Danny:** I'll be waiting, creep!  
_(Valerie and Danny both change back into their normal state and run toward the same "Health Sciences" class and bump into each other)_  
**Valerie:** Watch it, punk!  
**Danny:** You watch it, creep!  
**Mrs. Testlaff:** Fenton! Gray! Congratulations, you two stragglers are paired up for a special weeklong health sciences project. I now pronounce you man, wife, and child. _(Mrs. Testlaff hands Danny the flour sack)_  
**Danny:** I am _so_ not kissing the bride!  
**Valerie:** What makes you think you can?

* * *

**Hunting for Innocence**

"Where's Phantom?" Valerie wasn't worried about her rival's well-being. The ghost hunter would never allow herself such a feeling. She was… just… erm…

…Okay, there wasn't an excuse yet, but as soon as she thought of one…

"T-They already took him," Heather said tearfully, "They came in with some weird green net and caught him when before he could do anything. Then they dragged him off and took me."

"Weird green-?" Valerie started before realization hit her and she bit back a groan. The anti-ecto net on her jet sled, a new feature to capture a ghost in a specially designed net that they couldn't phase though, made of a material that was nearly indestructible. Someone must've found Valerie's forgotten jet sled and dismantled the technology on it…

_'I'm messing up left and right today…'_ The ghost hunter thought bitterly as she rested her head against the wall of the carriage, irritated at the way the rope rubbed against her skin.

The camp had been captured swiftly and damn near silently while all the major leaders were either tired or distracted, and Valerie, Heather and Treya were currently in the back of one of the carriages leading them to a new destination. Valerie was admittedly confused since as far as she could see, their captors were all humans.

"They're the Saved Ones," Treya said quietly as she saw Valerie studying one of their human guards, "Humans who have given their souls to the Kesan in order to gain a citizen status,"

"Sell outs, then," Valerie said distastefully. If there was one thing she couldn't stand now, it was sell outs. Girls like Paulina and Star, who based everything on the opinions of others…

_'I'm just glad that's not me anymore,'_ Valerie mused, turning back to Treya. _'Another thing I have Phantom to thank for…'_

"Where are they taking us?" Valerie asked.

"I don't know," Treya sighed, "But I think to their closest base is near the Dahee Mountains,"

"And I'm sure that would be helpful if I knew what that was," Valerie said sarcastically, earning a glare from Treya.

"It's a sacred place in our world to both humans and Kesan. No blood can be drawn there, and no one can be forced away against their will. That is where my grandmother lives."

"The one that can help us?" Valerie clarified.

"Yes, the one that can help you," Treya said, rolling her eyes, "If we get into the pass to the mountain, we're free. We just need to get to the mountains…"

"But what about Danny?" Heather asked, "We can't just leave Danny behind!"

"Danny will go back on his own once the day runs out." Valerie told her, remembering what Treya had said. She glanced at the leader of the human resistance after she said this, to find the girl's face carefully blank, which made her a little suspicious.

"Really?" Heather asked, looking between the older girls.

"Of course," Treya said at last. Her face was still blank though, which did little to soothe Valerie's suspicions.

Still, Valerie knew she had bigger worries. Her time was starting to run out… she only had about three hours left…

"When we get home, I want grilled cheese," Heather said suddenly.

"A… a what?" Treya asked blankly.

"What brought this on?" Valerie asked dryly.

"I'm hungry, and we haven't had any good food since we came here," heather replied, "I want as many grilled cheese as I can eat! Then I want to go to the park and play before I go to the costume party this Friday…" Heather looked at Valerie, "What about you? What do you want to do?" Valerie didn't bother to hide her surprise at the question before she stopped to think about it.

"…I want to hang out with Danny," She answered at last. "You know, go to the concert, catch a movie… Just hang out a little, you know? Normally it's hard for us to do that kind of stuff, between his friends and my job,"

"His friends?" Heather repeated.

"They don't like me," Valerie admitted with a sigh, "They keep thinking I'm gonna hurt Danny for some reason,"

"Can't imagine why…" Heather said dryly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Valerie asked, glaring.

"Nothing," Heather beamed innocently at the older girl, who glared back to show she wasn't buying it for a second. Heather got the message and glanced away.

"So all we gotta do is get away…" Valerie murmured with a sigh.

"I'm not leaving without Danny," Heather said point blank. "I don't care what you guys say, I'm not leaving him behind."

"Fine," Valerie sighed, secretly relieved. She wasn't completely sure if she trusted Treya's information…

* * *

_'One hour, thirty minutes…'_

Valerie took a deep breath, trying to ignore her shaking hands. She felt like a prisoner on death row, and her pounding heart reminded her that second by second she was losing time.

'One hour, thirty minutes…' 

Sighing, the ghost hunter ran a hand through her hair, forcing herself to stay calm and patient. It wasn't usually her style, but Valerie had been in enough situations that demanded a clear head to know that panicking would hurt her now.

_'I need to stay focused and wait for my chance,' _She thought firmly. 'Then I'll get Phantom and Heather and get out of here,'

The problem was, though, that she had three guards watching her like hawks. Phantom probably had it worse then her, and Heather was basically useless since she didn't know what to do in situations like these.

Valerie was wary about putting too much trust in Treya, too. She knew the girl was keeping things from her, though she didn't know what. That was part of the reason she wanted Phantom and Heather with her so badly. They were the only people she trusted in this world.

_'If this situation wasn't serious, I'd die laughing at that thought,'_ The girl mused dryly, shaking her head at the irony of putting more faith in her enemy she loathed and a brat she was coming to hate almost as much then in an entire world.

"What do you mean she escaped?" A man out of Valerie's sight asked harshly. The girl stiffened, listening closely to the voices, hope making her heart swell in her chest.

"She's gone, sir. We can't find her anywhere," There was an annoyed growl.

"Keep an eye on the blue eyed one." He ordered. "I'll talk to the older girl from the other world now. If she's going to go anywhere, it would be to one of them,"

_'Treya must've gotten out,' Valerie _mused, smirking ever so slightly. It faded though at the sight of the creature that entered her cell.

Standing in front of her was non other then King Nopyath.

"You are the human who isn't from this world, correct?" the king of the Kesan asked.

"Uh, yeah," Valerie answered, stunned and a little suspicious that the royal was speaking to her, "What's it to ya?"

"I'm willing to make a deal with you, human," King Nopyath said, frowning down at Valerie like she was the lowest thing he'd ever seen, "I know of your problem and it's time limit, and I'll be willing to let you and the little girl leave here and go back to your own world if you leave your male companion here,"

"Phantom?" Valerie said, surprised, "You want us to leave Phantom? Why?"

"He is unlike any creatures in our world," King Nopyath told her, "His powers and abilities are astounding, and we wish to learn more about them. Our sources tell us that you and the boy are enemies, so it will be no loss to you," Valerie frowned, wondering what these sources were.

"What kind of idiot do you take me for?" She asked the King, "Even if I go back, Phantom would just come back too once his time ran out, and he'd probably be mad that I abandoned him,"

Not that Valerie cared, but she knew that it could prove dangerous to upset ghosts, particularly smart and strong ones, and that Phantom was a combination of the two meant that he was twice as dangerous.

"Lies," King Nopyath snorted, "That is only if you run out of time, girl. If you return without Phantom, he will be stranded here with no way to return." Valerie froze.

_'…What?'_ She thought, her eyes going wide before narrowing in fury. Treya had tried to trick her. Treya had wanted her to leave Phantom behind… _'Why that little-!'_

"I'm running out of patience, human," King Nopyath told her coldly, "Make your decision before I make it for you,"

"No," Valerie said stubbornly, furious at how she was nearly deceived.

"Very well then," King Nopyath said, "You're execution shall be in a half hour's time," Valerie blinked.

"…Exe- **_What do you mean execution!"_**

"Consider it a mercy, girl, it is far less painful to die this way then by having you soul ripped from your body and bled dry." The King told her as he left.

_'…Eeew…!'_

"Keep watch for the human girl who escaped. And don't let this one out of your sight," King Nopyath ordered Valerie's guards before disappearing from sight. The ghost hunter huffed.

_'Phantom had better appreciate this…'_ She thought sullenly. 'Because I am not doing that jerk any more favors!' Just then, loud screams reached Valerie, and she looked up alarmed to see her guards fleeing, fear written all over their faces.

"Hey, what's going…?"

Valerie froze when a stampede of Yovven stormed past her cell.

'…Well, this isn't normal…'

"Valerie?" The ghost hunter blinked glancing down.

"Heather?" She gasped. "What are you-? How did you-? WHAT THE HECK IS THAT!" The last question was directed at tiny creature on the girl's shoulders that looked like a blue/green kitten version of the creature that attacked them earlier and trashed Valerie's jet sled.

"I think it's a new breed of Yovven," Heather shrugged, "Anyways, she helped me get out. Ain't she cute?"

"…You are one twisted little girl." Valerie shuddered. "Come on, We need to find Phantom and get outta here."

"What about Treya?" Heather protested. Valerie scowled at the name.

"Treya can rot for all I care," She snapped. She wasn't about to forgive the girl that easily. Valerie didn't like being tricked… "And anyways we don't have that kind of time."

"But," Valerie jerked at the girl's arm to cut the question off, running down one corridor after another, her eyes scanning around her. "How do you even know where Phantom is?" Heather asked.

"The air's getting colder around here," Valerie explained, "That's a of a ghost that's been stationary for a while, or of multiple ghost who have been in one location." Which explained why the Fenton household always felt like one of the artic circles…

"Really?" Heather blinked, "Wow, who knew a ghost could double as a personal AC?" Valerie rolled her eyes.

"Come on!" She snapped, "Phantom's over there!"

It was obvious that Heather's new friends had already been through, since the halls were empty of any other life, and Valerie tried not to think too hard about the large bloodstain on the wall a few feet away.

"Uh, maybe I should go first…" Heather said nervously.

"We don't have time!" Valerie yelled back, "We're down to nearly an hour as it is, and I'm not gonna let you waste any time with some stupid game you're trying to pull!" Valerie frowned sharply as a strange sound reached her ears, jerking over to look at an alarmed looking Phantom in the corner of his cell and frowning at the two halos of light about his head and at his feet.

'What was…' Valerie shook her head, cutting the thought off, 'I'll worry about that later.'

"You okay in there Phantom?" Valerie asked.

I'm fine," Phantom said, pulling his cloak closer to his body, "Time to go?"

"It was time to go nearly half an hour ago!" Valerie said with an accusing glare as she took the ring of keys from the wall and opened the cell door, "Uh, you're useless…"

"Thanks," Phantom sighed in relief as she undid the cuffs at his wrists (Another thing they'd jacked from her jet sled) with her own keys, rubbing the sore skin as he headed for the door, "We should leave before they send more people. I don't think I have the energy to fight…" Valerie frowned at the confession, knowing that it probably hurt their chances of a quick escape.

"Right," Valerie said, grabbing his wrist and hauling him towards the door, ignoring his yelp of surprise and pain "Let's go,"

* * *

"Remind… me again… why you do this… kind of stuff… willingly!" Heather puffed as they burst out the exit, Valerie pausing long enough to throw some knives she'd found at the Saved Ones that were following them.

"It's good exercise!" Valerie snapped back, scooping the girl up and jogging to catch up with Phantom, who was busy warding off a Yovven with eight heads that was trying to take a bit out of him.

"I'll hold them off," Phantom called to Valerie, "Take Heather and run!"

"Got it!" Valerie shouted back, charging ahead.

_'Phantom's powerful… he can take care of himself,' _She reassured herself silently as Heather whimpered into her shoulder.

"They're still following us," She told Valerie quietly.

"Don't look," Valerie ordered. "If you look, you'll only get scared. Just trust me and Phantom, okay? We know what we're doing." Valerie was surprised that she was honestly telling someone to trust her enemy and meaning it.

_'Just for now…'_ Valerie assured herself, _'When we get back, nothing will change. I won't let it…'_

"DANNY!" Heather screamed, making Valerie wheel around to see what the problem was. She gasped in horror when she was a pack of Yovven bearing down on the ghost, about to overpower him and tear him apart…

_'Phantom can look out for himself,' _A part of her still insisted stubbornly_, 'You need to go! You need to get out while you still have a chance. If things are really just going to go back to the way they were when you return, then why not let your biggest threat die here and now…?'_

_'Because that's the cowards way out,'_ Valerie argued back, her eyes narrowing.

"Heather," Valerie said quietly, "Go on ahead. Run to the pass and don't turn back. I'll be back soon," Heather big her lip.

"With Danny?" She asked.

"With Danny." Valerie promised, gripping one of the knives she'd snagged. Heather started away obediently.

"Oh, and Valerie?" She said, pausing to bite, "Ah… Be careful, okay?" Valerie smiled.

"I will," she promised quietly. And with that, the ghost hunter charged ahead to help her foe…

* * *

**WoM- _AAAHHHH! FF. NETIS EEEEEVVVIIIILLL! EVIL I SAY! _'growls'**

* * *

**Thanks to;**

Ryo Hoshi

Petitio Principii

Light Dragon SunsSong

Lumias

AirGirl Phantom

Evilevergreen

epobbp

KatrinaKaiba

BratCat

My Eternal Facade

Sqweakie the Wonder Mouse

Firefury

the sleep warrior

Samantha-Girl Scout

Punker88

Ghost Writer's Assistant

SummersSixEcho

littlekittykat

Gmasangel

Darth Frodo

A. Nonymous

The Unknown Alias

Inumaru12

Firehedgehog

Spidergirl

phantomshadowdragon

Moss Royal

misaoshiru

JPElles

Tazzel Quickbow

avearia

Hafae a.k.a. Hufflepuffer242

* * *

**Next update; **_February 13th_

_**See you then!**_

ATTENTION!

****

As I'm sure most of you are already aware, Nick is threatening to cancel Danny Phantom after just three seasons.

****

Naturally, I'm one of the people fighting to keep Danny Phantom running, so I beg you to send in letters with my own to the following address;

Cyma Zharghami or **Marjorie Cohn **

Nickelodeon

1515 Broadway

New York, New York

10036

USA

Attention: Programming.

And to sign the petitions I have posted on my profile won't let me up the link here.)

****

And don't forget to spread the word! With your help, we can save Danny!


	10. Hunting for Survival

**WoM- _I think my computer's PMSing or something… Well, it's either that or Technus has decided to retaliate for all the times I called him lame._ 'Grumbles' _Heed my advice; If you more or less live on the computer, never insult someone who had absolute control over all things electronic and beeping._**

* * *

**Danny:** _(To Valerie)_ Head for a door, any door. Sometimes they're portals between the Ghost Zone and Earth.  
_(Valerie opens the door and a train starts coming towards them)_  
**Danny:** Not that door! _(They quickly slam it shut)_  
**Valerie:** Then maybe you should have been more specific, huh!

* * *

**Chapter 10; Hunting for Survival**

"Valerie?" Phantom said, surprise clear in his voice as the ghost hunter awarded off the attackers. "What are you doing? I told you to take Heather and leave!"

"You're welcome," Valerie said dryly. "And don't think you can tell me what to do, Ghost boy!" Phantom raised an eyebrow at her, but didn't say anything else to the ghost hunter as they fought off the Yovven.

"Hey, Valerie?" Phantom called to her as he punched one of the Yovven, "Any ideas? I don't think this'll keep us alive much longer…"

"I'm kind of working on it as I go along," Valerie admitted as she threw the last of the knives and backed away from the advancing Yovven. It was only when her back met Phantom's that she realized they'd been surrounded.

"Think you can work a little faster?" Phantom asked pointedly as the monsters continued to press forward. "Like BEFORE we end up dinner?"

"Hey, I'm only human, pal," Valerie snapped, glowering at the ghost.

"Hasn't stopped you before," Phantom pointed out dryly.

"I'm gonna ignore that until I know it's safe to hit you," Valerie said, glaring at him from the corner of her eye. Then she turned grimly back to the monsters.

_'He's right though,'_ She thought to herself, _'I've never let it stop me before… so why now?'_

"Look for anything we can use as a weapon," She told Phantom, her eyes scanning to do the same. "If we can find something, we might be able to clear a path and make a break for it."

"Way ahead of you there," Phantom said. "But I don't see anything. Not even a rock!" Valerie sighed.

"Same here…" She admitted as the Yovven drew closer. "Think you can at least pull off intangibility?" Phantom frowned glancing over the crowd that as getting closer and closer.

"Maybe…" He said doubtfully before his eyes widened. "DUCK!"

Both Phantom and Valerie dived away to avoid getting impaled by one of the monster's claws. Valerie growled in annoyance as she crawled underneath one of the Yovven, then rolled to avoid getting stomped on by another.

_'This is getting us nowhere fast,' _She thought frustrated as she flipped back to her feet and backed up to avoid another Yovven.

"You still alive out there, Phantom?" She called out before she considered her wording.

"I think so," Phantom responded from somewhere left of Valerie, "You?"

"Barely," Valerie sighed in frustration.

_'I'm running out of time…'_ She thought desperately, _'I've got less then an hour on the clock, and there's no way I'll get outta here…'_ Valerie was starting to feel very foolish. Why had she allowed herself to come back of it only meant that both of them would die instead of just Phantom alone? _'But… I couldn't just leave him there… Not after everything he's done for me…' _Valerie sighed.

Why was it that it was only during times of dire danger upon her life that her conscious started to act up like this?

"What's that?"

Valerie jumped at the question, surprised to find Phantom at her side. Apparently he had managed to work his way through the crowd of Yovven to find her again. The ghost hunter didn't know what he was talking about at first until it reached her ears too.

"Is that cheering?" She asked, frowning around in confusion to find the source. Phantom's eyes widened.

"No…" He said softly. "It's a battle-cry!" Listening closely, Valerie realized the ghost was right. And it wasn't just any battle cry either…

"It's the humans!" Valerie realized, pointing at the advancing army as they met the Yovven head on. It didn't take long for her eyes to find Treya, and her lips pursed when she did.

She had yet to forget the girl's deception, after all…

"Go on ahead," One of the humans called out to them as they drew close, "Treya will lead you up the pass, go now while there's a chance!"

'More like Treya will lead me right over a cliff so she can get her claws into Danny,' Valerie thought sullenly. Her eyes widened when something hit her, 'Wait, I didn't just call Phantom Danny… did I?' She never referred to people she didn't like by their first names. Never.

"Thanks!" Phantom called out to him grabbing Valerie's wrist and racing through the path the newcomers had cleared for them. Valerie stumbled at first before she matched his pace with her own strides, well aware that Phantom still had a grip on her wrist.

"This way!" Treya yelled, waving to them from the entrance of the mountain pass. "Hurry! You're running out of time!" Valerie and Phantom picked up the pace, not slowing as they rushed past Treya and into the mountains, and barely noticing her following them in…

* * *

"That was certainly a trip," Phantom announced grimly about ten minutes later when the three of them finally slowed their pace. They didn't stop, there wasn't time for that, but they weren't running anymore.

"Tell me about it," Valerie said, making a face, "That's the last time I save your butt, Phantom, remember that!"

"But it was so much fun!" Phantom told her, turning to the ghost hunter with a wide-eyed, innocent expression. Valerie didn't miss the glint in his eyes and the slight curl of his lips that ruined the look, though.

"Maybe for you," She snorted, "And can you be serious for more then three seconds?" Phantom blinked at her, cocking his head.

"Well, how about this," He said, smiling at her slightly, "Thanks for coming back for me." Valerie blushed, though she wasn't completely sure why.

"I was just returning the favor, alright?" She said, tearing her eyes away from Phantom's. "For the other time, when I got knocked out. You saved me then, and I saved you now. We're even,"

"Well, thanks anyways," Phantom insisted.

"Ahem!" Treya cleared her throat pointedly. "Sorry to interrupt such a cozy moment, but are you two going to hold hands all the way up the mountain?" Phantom and Valerie's eyes drew down to where Phantom still had the ghost hunter's wrist captured in his grasp, and the ghost-boy blushed vividly and drew his hand away as if he'd been poisoned.

"I was just, ah…" Danny babbled with a nervous laugh. "Yeah, maybe I should…"

"Hey, Phantom?" Valerie cut off the poor boy's nervous gibber. "Think you can go ahead and check on Heather for me? I don't think I have the energy to go after her myself."

"Need some help?" Phantom asked, sounding concerned.

"Just check on Heather," Valerie sighed, "I don't like her being off on her own,"

"Got it," Phantom said with a nod. He flew off to go ahead, his path a little shaky from lack of energy but he was at least able to make it out of Valerie's line of sight. And once he had, Valerie turned to take care of the real business at hand.

'SLAP!'

Treya gasped in surprise, lurching away from Valerie and holding her cheek, which was already starting to turn red and would probably start stinging soon.

"Are you insane?" The girl hissed, still gripping her face, "What on earth-?"

"You lied to me," Valerie growled, "You said that is we left Phantom here and went back to our own dimension, he'd just come back on his own, but that wasn't true, was it?" The ghost hunter glared at Treya who merely frowned back.

"I did," She said, not sounding too bothered by the confession. Valerie's eyes narrowed.

"Lemme guess, you were gonna tell him that I knew and went on ahead without him anyways too, weren't you?" She accused the other girl coldly.

"Probably," Treya admitted, "If he felt there was no one back in his home dimension waiting for him, he'd be more eager to lend his talents to our cause."

"I don't believe you…" Valerie said, disgust coloring her tone. "You were actually gonna set him up like that for your own selfish-!"

"I was doing it for my people," Treya said, her eyes icy as she returned Valerie's glare. "I will do ANYTHING for my people."

"How noble," Valerie sneered, "It'd seem a lot more respectable is 'anything' didn't include lying to an innocent person to get him to help you!"

"Since when did you consider Phantom innocent?" Treya asked, raising an eyebrow, "I thought you hated him."

_'So did I…'_ Valerie thought softly to herself.

"That doesn't mean I'll let you use him like that," Valerie snapped. "Nobody should fight for something based on another person's lies like that."

Valerie didn't know what she'd do if she found out she was fighting someone else's cause just because they tricked her… but she knew for a fact that is she didn't kill the person who lied to her, she'd at least come as close as possible to doing so.

"What else could I do?" Treya demanded. "We're losing. We need all the help we can get."

"Then help yourself," Valerie snapped, "It's what I did. I'm not standing around waiting for Phantom or anyone else to hold my hand and take all the blows for me, lady, and you should try and do the same."

"I'm only human," Treya said, glaring at Valerie. Valerie frowned, a little unsettled at having her own words thrown back at her like that, and before she knew what was happening, she was already forming her response.

"Hasn't stopped you before,"

* * *

"Took you long enough!" Valerie scowled back at Heather's smirk.

Valerie and Treya had finally caught up with Phantom and Heather, both of which were waiting for them outside a small hut on the side of the mountain. It was a very modest place, and the ghost hunter couldn't help but doubt that it was the right one even as she turned to retaliate for that remark.

"Watch it, kid," she warned. "I'm not in the mood to kick your butt right now."

"Like you'd have the guts to try," Heather snorted. "All I'd have to do is tell my uncle and he'd fail you for good!"

"Right now, my grade in English is the last thing on my mind…" Valerie warned the girl with a dark look.

"Is this the place?" Phantom asked Treya, also eyeing the house skeptically.

"This is it," Treya confirmed, walking forward with her smooth, confident strides, "Come on, I'll introduce you," Phantom, Heather and Valerie all moved to obey (Though Phantom and Valerie were both a little reluctant) when Phantom stopped short, looking confused and a little concerned.

"What happened to your cheek?" He asked Treya, "It looks like someone hit you…" Valerie smirked slightly to herself at Treya's unreadable look.

"…It's nothing," Treya said evenly, "I just fell against the mountain is all. I'm fine, though. Thank you for being concerned for me." Phantom frowned at Treya for a moment before his eyes darted over to Valerie in an almost suspicious way, but he said nothing.

Still, Valerie didn't miss the amusement in his eyes.

'Smirk all you want, buddy,' Valerie thought sullenly, 'I might've stood up for ya, but that doesn't mean I have to admit it.'

"Hello, Treya," The ghost hunter's attention was diverted by the new voice, and her jaw dropped at the sight of the source.

Standing at the door of the hut, dressed in simple white robes with long, flowing hair that was such a dark shade of violet it was nearly black, was a beautiful, noble looking woman.

It she had to wager a guess, Valerie would've never thought the woman was over twenty. She was obviously the source of much of Treya's beauty, but she seemed far more awe-inspiring then her human granddaughter.

"Grandmother," Treya said, bowing low to the woman.

"You've brought guests," The woman said softly, eying the three of them knowingly.

"Yes, Grandmother," Treya confirmed. "They need-!"

"I know," The immortal cut the girl off, "And I know of all of your actions since you first cam here." She looked pointedly at Treya. "All of them."

Heather and Phantom exchanged confused looks as Valerie smirked triumphantly and Treya flinched slightly. Valerie couldn't say she was to sorry for the girl, who was obviously in trouble.

"Wait, you knew we were here?" Heather asked, sounding irritated. "Then why didn't you help us sooner!"

"Heather!" Valerie growled in warning, though she was wondering the same thing. Still, she wasn't about to blow everything now that they were so close.

"I needed to test you three first," The woman explained. "The only one I'm under any obligation to assist is Danny. I wanted to make sure you two were willing and able to both stand on your own and protect those near you,"

"And…?" Heather asked.

"Hea-ther!" Valerie hissed, blushing. Treya's grandmother laughed.

"Yes," she said, smiling "You pass. Both of you." She turned to enter the hut, "Come along, we don't have much time left…" exchanging looked, Phantom, Heather and Valerie all followed obediently as Treya and her grandmother led them inside.

All three stopped dead at the sight of the inside of the hut.

It seemed to stretch on forever in all directions, a mass of glowing marble and flickering candles. Statues and paintings decorated the floor and walls, and large marble columns held a stain glass ceiling over their head.

"…You know, I'm actually too tired and rushed to even ask." Phantom announced dryly. Valerie agreed with the ghost mentally, but the only physical reaction he got from her was a sharp tug on the wrist as she dragged him after the disappearing women.

"I've already set everything up for you three." Treya's grandmother said, coming to stop at too large black doors. "step through here and you'll be back in Clockwork's dimension."

"Really?" Heather said, brightening.

"That seems a little too easy to me…" Valerie said suspiciously.

"You wish to get home, do you not?" The contact said, raising an eyebrow. Valerie growled.

"Come on, Val," Danny said, tugging at her wrist, "We're almost out of time, and this is the one shot we're gonna get." Valerie sighed.

"Fine," she said sullenly. Treya's grandmother waved a hand, and the doors opened to produce a blinding white light. Just before she was about to step forward into it, though, Valerie saw something move in Heather's arms. "What's that?"

"What's what?" Heather asked innocently. Valerie scowled.

"Don't play dumb, Heather!" She snapped, "What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," heather answered immediately.

"Heather-!" Valerie growled, advancing towards the little girl. Heather dived forward through the doors and into the light, and Valerie followed her without thinking.

"Valerie!" Phantom called out, immediately plunging in after them. That was the last thing Valerie saw or heard before the light blinded her and the world faded away…

* * *

**WoM_- I'm really stretching it now, aren't I? 'blinks innocently.' ?Still, I couldn't help but do what I have planned out for next chapter… which, by the way, is in fact second form the last._ (My third complete multi-chapter fic! 'tears up') _so stay tuned!_**

* * *

**Thanks to;**

epobbp

AirGirl Phantom

Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet

Ginger Guardian Angel

Evilevergreen

Gmasangel

Ghost Writer's Assistant

Sammy

Light Dragon SunsSong

avearia

a reader

IwuvMyKenshyPoo

lilnovelist

Samantha-Girl Scout

Titan6

shadow

Darth Frodo

Petitio Principii

Punker88

A. Nonymous

KatrinaKaiba

conan98002

Dance of the Soul

Firehedgehog

the sleep warrior

JPElles

phantomshadowdragon

The Unknown Alias

SummersSixEcho

Mizuki hikari

BratCat

Mistress of Darkness

Inumaru12

SilverstarsEbonyskies

* * *

**Next update;** _February 20th_

_**See you then!**_


	11. Hunting for The Future

**WoM- _The Second-to-the-Last Chapter! It still feels like I just started this story, too… I might do a sequel, if I can fit it in. Right now, though, a new story idea's been begging for attention, so I'm not making any promises. Oh, and Sorry for not getting this up yesterday on ff. Net Once again the site decided to spite me..._**

* * *

**Future Valerie:** You're from the past, aren't you? Almost forgot how cute you were back then. _(Valerie collapses)_  
**Danny:** You thought I was cute? Wow, an older woman likes me.

* * *

**Hunting for the Future**

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Heather squealed loudly, burying her face into Phantom's back to hide herself from the murderous ghost hunter as the ghost boy himself prevented the impending homicide.

"Dan-ny!" Heather wailed, clutching to his hazmat, "Don't let her get me!"

"What were you thinking?" Valerie snapped, ignoring the ghost and the fact that Heather was her teacher's niece. In her current mood, Valerie would've still strangled the brat even if she was royalty. "Were you thinking? Because it sure as hell doesn't look that way!"

"I couldn't just leave her!" Heather protested, hugging the Yovven kitten close. "Who knows what they would've done to her there!"

"Valerie," Phantom sighed, "Stop it. Yelling at her isn't going to change anything, and we are in our own dimension again," The ghost looked around them again, "…Well, sorta,"

"'Sorta?'" Valerie repeated, "And exactly how are we 'sorta' in the right dimension? Cause this doesn't look like home to me!" Valerie waved her arms furiously was she said this, motioning around them to the mass of ruined buildings and high-tech devices. Phantom hesitated a moment before answering.

"Well…" He said reluctantly, "…It's the right dimension… or at least, we're in Clockwork's ballpark now… only the wrong time."

"The wrong time," Valerie repeated, gaping.

"Ten years the wrong time, if you wanna get accurate," Phantom continued. Valerie gaped at him before turning a murderous glare back to Heather.

"Danny!" Heather whimpered, clutching the ghost's leg.

"Calm down, Val!" Danny said diplomatically, "It's not big deal, we'll just go to the Ghost Zone and find Clockwork. He'll straighten this whole mess out in no time!"

"Well he better!" Valerie snapped, "'Cause I've had it up to here with all of this mess! I just wanna go home, take a long, HOT bath and eat some real food before going to bed!" Heather rolled her eyes.

"like that'll help in that dump you call a home…" She muttered dryly. Before Valerie could figure out a way to get around Phantom and attack the younger girl, Heather had already turned a puzzled frown to the ghost of the group. "Hey, how did you know that this was the future, anyways?"

Valerie frowned as she also glanced at the ghost, surprised to find his face the most serious and depressed she'd ever seen it. A grim, haunted look was in his eyes, like he was trapped in memories he didn't want to have.

"I've been here before," He answered softly. Shaking his head, the ghost sighed. "Anyways, we should probably get going. The nearest working portal is in Wisconsin since the Fenton Portal was destroyed, so…"

"The Fenton Portal was destroyed?" Valerie repeated, gaping. "By what?" The ghost winced.

"Never mind," he said shortly, "Lets get going before we get into trouble…"

'What the heck is his problem?' Valerie though sullenly, glaring at the ghost as he walked a little ahead of her. 'Ah, what do I care? At least now I candela with Heather in peace…'

"What were you thinking, huh?" Valerie hissed at the little girl. "Didn't you realize that you couldn't bring that thing without something going wrong?"

"She isn't a thing!" Heather said, clearly offended. "She's cute, and really sweet, see?" Valerie jumped when Heather suddenly shoved the Yovven just inches from her face.

The Yovven blinked into Valerie's green eyes, before mewing loudly and licking her nose. The ghost hunter stiffened, her face paling rapidly as she jumped away as if she'd been burned.

"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed in her retreat, tripping over a piece of rubble and landing painfully on her butt. Heather blinked at her in surprise before grinning evilly.

"Wait," She said, clearly trying to hold back a laugh, "You're not scared of Baby… are you?"

"No I'm not scare of Baby!" Valerie snapped back. "I just…" She trailed off, staring at Heather. "Wait a second… BABY?"

"Well, yeah," Heather said defensively, "I mean, she so cute and little, just like a Baby, so I just figured…"

"Things grow, Heather," Valerie reminded her charge. "And anyways there's no way you can keep her."

"Says who?" Heather asked defiantly, glaring at Valerie. Valerie gave the younger girl a dry look.

"Heather," she said in exasperation, "Don't you think you're Uncle's gonna notice how your new pet looks a little weird?" Heather flinched at that.

"Didn't think of that…" She muttered, frowning down at the Yovven in her arms. Her confidence growing from that reaction alone, Valerie continued pressing the point home.

"And don't you think you're mom's gonna find it weird when you go back?" She asked, "You can't tell anyone how you got her without breaking your promise and there's no way you can make up a believable excuse with how she looks." Heather sighed.

"Fine!" She snapped, "But we can't send her back to her own dimension now anyways, so what am I supposed to do with her?" Valerie was a little startled by the question.

"I don't know!" she said, frowning, "Ask Phantom to take care of her, I guess. He'll know what to do,"

"I guess…" Heather said sullenly, pouting down at Baby. The Yovven purred, rubbing it's head again the little girl's shirt and Valerie made a face.

_'Man that thing's creepy…'_ She thought, giving the kitten a wary look. That's when a noise caught her attention.

"What was that?" She asked, glaring around in sharp suspicion.

"What?" Heather asked, alert. Ignoring the girl, Valerie listened closer, tensing at the sound of rapidly approaching motors. "I don't hear-!"

"Get down!" Valerie hissed, pushing the girl down to hide her beneath some rubble. Startled, Heather relinquished her grip on the Yovven kitten, who scampered out into the open.

"Ba-!" Heather started to call before Valerie pressed a hand firmly over her mouth, hearing the motors get even closer. Heather tensed, her eyed wide as she finally hear it too.

"Are you sure, Dad?" A semi-familiar voice said somewhere above Valerie, making the ghost hunter frown in confusion. "I don't see anything…" There was a reply that Valerie didn't quite catch, but there was definitely something even more familiar about that voice then the one above her.

_'I know I've heard her somewhere before…'_ Valerie mused to herself, _'But where…?'_

"Mew!" Valerie and Heather both jumped as Baby cried out loudly.

"What the-?" The voice above them said, the sound of motors humming again. Now Valerie's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

_'That sounds like my jet sled!'_ She thought furiously.

"What the hell is THAT?" The voice exclaimed loudly, "Man! How creepy it that thing… Well, not much longer, I guess…" Valerie's jaw dropped as she heard another familiar sound; the sound of a charging ecto-gun. In her shock, the ghost hunter's firm grip on her charge relaxed, something Heather took advantage of in an instant.

"BABY!" she cried out, running out to scoop the kitten up.

"HEATHER!" Valerie growled, running after the girl to haul her (And Baby) out of the way just before the discharged blast hit where they'd been standing. "You're trying to get yourself killed, aren't you?" Valerie snapped accusingly at the younger girl. Heather didn't respond, too busy staring dumbly at something above them.

Frowning, Valerie turned to see what had captured the girl's attention so successfully, only to drop her charge when she saw for herself, her eyes widening to the size of saucers and her jaw dropping in almost perfect imitation of the face she was staring into.

"Valerie?" Phantom called out, coming back around a bend with concern clear in his voice, "Heather? Are you two okay? I hear a- Oh, Hell…"

The ghost hunter barely heard her rival, never taking her eyes off that face of the girl in front of her.

HER face.

_"Valerie?"_ Damon's concerned voice came over the device on the older ghost hunter's wrist, _"Are you alright? What was that screaming I heard?"_

"Dad," Older Valerie said, her tone dumb with shock, "I'm gonna have to call you back…"

* * *

"So let me get this straight," Older Valerie sighed, rubbing her temples as she paced in front of Phantom, Heather and… well… Valerie, all of which were sitting on the ground in front of her. "You're ALL from the past?"

"Right," Heather nodded.

"But not the past of this future, since you altered the timeline for yours?" As she said this, Older Valerie shot Phantom a pointed look, a frown on her face.

"Yep," Phantom said with a meek smile.

"Any you're all here because you got sucked into an alternate dimension and when you jumped to come back to this one, everything got screwed up because of that… _thing_?" This time the look turned to Baby, and it was a little wary.

"Pretty much," Valerie admitted.

"Baby's NOT a thing…" Heather sulked, glaring at Older Valerie who paid her no mind, still rubbing her temples.

"…I need an Aspirin." She sighed, sitting down on a piece of rubble. "Maybe Dad was right about my life getting too interesting…"

"Welcome to my world…" The hunters younger counterpart said pointedly.

"I've been in your world," Older Valerie reminded her with a dry glare. "So now you guys need to get to the Ghost Zone and find this Clockwork person to get back to your home time… dimension… place?"

"And the only working Ghost Portal belongs to Vlad," Phantom said, making a face.

"Of course," Older Valerie said dryly. The younger Valerie blinked.

_'What was that about?'_ She wondered, 'Did I have a fight with Mr. Masters or something?'

"Okay then," Older Valerie said, standing, "It's a good seven hour flight to Wisconsin so we might as well get started now. You two are coming with me on the Jet Sled. Dan- Phantom, you're gonna need to stay invisible until I give the all clear." Phantom, Heather and Valerie all stared at Older Valerie in shock.

"Wait," Phantom said, blinking as he pointed at Older Valerie, "You're going to help us?"

"What do you think?" Older Valerie asked absently, pressing a few buttons on her watch. "Like I'm really gonna let YOU fly unsupervised to visit a hermit in Wisconsin?"

'Hermit?' Valerie repeated mentally, 'Mr. Masters?' Valerie looked around her again.

"What HAPPENED here?" She asked her older self. Older Valerie stopped her actions to look at Phantom, a strange look on her face. Phantom on his part suddenly wasn't meeting anyone's eyes.

"…A ghost attacked," Older Valerie said vaguely, turning to complete her work.

"Really?" Heather asked absently, oblivious to the tense air as she played with Baby. "Must've been powerful to do this kind of damage."

Valerie didn't miss the wince that chased across Phantom's face.

"Well," Older Valerie responded, "I think he finally got what was coming to him," She seemed to finish whatever she was doing, as she was now addressing her watch instead of the group, "Dad? I've got something I need to take care of right now. Think you can keep the shields up until I come back?"

_"Roger that,"_ Damon responded, _"Be careful, Valerie,"_

"Aren't I always?" Older Valerie shot back.

"Don't answer that," Younger Valerie said absently, shaking her head.

"Anyways, I'll be back by nightfall," Older Valerie said, grinning slightly at the younger version of herself. "Bye Dad!" turning off the watch, Older Valerie jumped back up onto her jet sled. "Come on, you two, get on. And remember what I said, Danny-!"

"Stay invisible," Phantom sighed, "Right," And without any further warning, the ghost disappeared. Shaking her head, Valerie got onto the jet sled after her older counterpart, Heather and Baby following a bit more hesitantly.

"Everybody ready?" Older Valerie asked.

"Hold on!" Heather cried out, "I need to hold onto Baby!" Valerie growled.

"Do you have to bring that thing with us?" She snapped.

"Baby isn't a thing!" Heather shouted, "And how bout we leave you behind, huh? At least Baby doesn't complain as much as you do!"

"What was that, you little-?"

"Have they been doing this the whole time?" Older Valerie asked dryly.

"Longer," An invisible Phantom responded, laughing.

"Hey!" Valerie and Heather protested as one.

_'We haven't been fighting that much…'_ the ghost hunter added sullenly in her mind.

* * *

"This is SO creepy…"

"Tell me about it." Older Valerie muttered. Shaking her head, Valerie looked over to where Phantom was flying alongside them, Heather on his back and Baby in his hands.

He'd volunteered to take the two of them after Older Valerie grew impatient with the fighting (5 ½ hours earlier, after just a half hour of flying) and threatened to shove all of them off the jet sled mid-air, the consequences be damned.

"So, you're really an older version of me, huh?" Valerie asked.

"Watch it," Her counterpart glared, "Just because you're ten years younger then me doesn't mean you can make me feel older then I am." Then the older ghost hunter sighed. "Well, guess you've got questions for me, huh?"

"A few," Younger Valerie said dryly, "Like 'what were you thinking when you cut our hair like that?'" Older Valerie looked startled for a second before she glared.

"Hey this happens to be very stylish, okay?" she snapped. "Not to mention a lot more efficient then the curly mess you've got going on,"

"You've got a problem with my hair?" Valerie asked, glaring right back at her older self. Older Valerie sighed.

"This is so stupid…" she muttered before glancing over at Phantom. Younger Valerie frowned.

"He did it, didn't he?" she asked softly, "He's the one who did all that damage back there." The older ghost hunter didn't respond at first before sighing heavily.

"It's complicated, alright?" She said in a tired tone. "Don't ask me to explain it to you, I'm still trying to catch up with what's going on now without dragging the past up."

"It's not my past, remember?" Valerie reminded her sharply. "And if you tell me what went on here-!"

"Did you take the C.A.T?" Older Valerie cut her off shortly.

"What?" Valerie said, blinking in confusion. "What does that have to do with-?"

"Did you take it or not?" Older Valerie snapped.

"Yeah," Valerie sighed, "I just barely passed too. All that ghost hunting-!"

"-Kept you from studying, I know," Older Valerie finished for her, "It was the same for me. But Sam and Tucker are still alive right? And all the Fentons?"

"Yeah, of course!" Valerie said, surprised at the question, "Why wouldn't they-?" Valerie stopped, paling, "You mean… here they're… oh my God!"

"Yeah," Older Valerie said solemnly. "There was an explosion at the Nasty Burger. No one was expecting it."

"Oh my God!" Valerie repeated. "What about Danny, was he-?" Older Valerie got a strange look on her face for a moment.

"Danny…" She started before she sighed. "Danny died a few days later." Valerie swallowed hard, unsure of what to say.

"He must've been heartbroken," She said at last, her voice soft and her tone sad, "I mean, I couldn't imagine what I'd do if I lost Dad…" she turned back to her older counterpart, frowning. "How did he die?"

"…He was killed," Older Valerie said softly, a sad look on her face. "I don't really know too much about the details, but I do know Mr. Masters was involved somehow."

"That's why you didn't want to see him," Valerie realized, "But Danny is the son of his two best friends! Why would Mr. Masters…?"

"I don't know, okay?" Older Valerie sighed. "I never asked. Anyways, there's the mansion. What's left of it at any rate…" Valerie peered around her older self, her eyes widening at the sight of the ruined mansion.

_'What's left of it is right…'_ She mused, her confusion growing. What had happened in this world…?

"One last thing," Older Valerie told her seriously, "I don't know if I should be telling you this, but…" Valerie looked over at Phantom, lowering her voice, "Valerie, whatever you do… when Danny tells you his secret… _don't hate him!_"

"Huh?" Valerie said, her eyes widening, "Why would I hate Danny?"

"Because I did, and it's part of the reason all of this happened," Older Valerie said seriously, "Remember that, okay?" Valerie frowned at her before sighing.

"I will," She promised as Older Valerie landed.

"You guys take care of what you need to do," She told them all. "I'm going back home. Good luck,"

"Thanks," Valerie said, watched her older self go with a strange look on her face, thinking about what the girl had told her.

"So," Phantom said in a would-be casual tone, "What were you two talking about?" Valerie raised an eyebrow at the ghost boy's tone and posture, noticing how nervous he was acting.

"Relax, Phantom," she said, "It didn't have anything to do with you," Phantom visibly relaxed before sighing and turning to the ruined castle.

"Well," He said, holding out a hand to Valerie, "It's now or never," Valerie sighed.

_'Then I guess it's now,'_ She mused, taking his hand, 'Thank god we're almost out of here for good…'

* * *

**WoM- 'sweatdropping' _That was a fun chapter to write! Stay tuned for the last Chapter next week!_**

* * *

**Thanks to;**

Petitio Principii, epobbp, littlekittykat, Light Dragon SunsSong, Evilevergreen, Samantha-Girl Scout, dramaqueen07, ur1crazedupfruitloop, Verna, SilverstarsEbonyskies, Titan6, IwuvMyKenshyPoo, Mistress of Darkness, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, Gmasangel, hikari lady, Punker88, Lumias, the sleep warrior, Darth Frodo, Ghost Writer's Assistant, conan98002, Firefury, A. Nonymous, Fire Forever, KatrinaKaiba, phantomshadowdragon, Sqweakie the Wonder Mouse, Firehedgehog, Kitty Kyinsky, Denise, AirGirl Phantom, The Great Susinko, BratCat, Mizuki hikari, Hafae a.k.a. Hufflepuffer242, Horselvr4evr123, Goofn1, BlackDecember, Inumaru12, JPElles, The Unknown Alias, animegurl088, shadow, WolfDaughter, GoGoJirachi

* * *

**FINAL CHAPTER;** _February 27th_

_**See you then!**_


	12. Hunting for Closure

**WoM- 'sniffing' _I can't believe this story's at an end… WHAAA! I want to thank everyone who stuck with me through my insanity and reviewed this crazy lil story of mine._ 'huggles reviewers,' _THANK YOU!_**

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**Danny:** I think we got this teamwork thing down! _(Skulker lifts Danny and Valerie toward him by the handcuffs)_  
**Valerie:** Just in time to get our butts fried!

* * *

**Hunting for Closure**

"Well, this is an unexpected visit…"

Valerie didn't doubt that for a second, though she was too busy gasping at her mentor to say as much. Vlad Masters had changed more in this time then she had, and he looked far more downtrodden and miserable then her older self…

_'Well, not that she was all that bright and chipper either,'_ Valerie thought dryly, _'but she was better at not showing it…'_ Once again, Valerie wondered what had happened in this world to make things sink to this level…

"We need a favor, Vlad," Phantom sighed, "There was a bit of an accident in our time, and to make a long story short we ended up here and we need to get back there."

"I see…" Vlad said, glanced over at Valerie before sighing heavily. "Well, I Suppose I owe you that much at least… come in, come in. watch your step, please…"

"What attacked you?" Valerie asked, glancing around the ruined castle with wide eyes.

"…A ghost," Vlad answered after a long pause in which he exchanged looks with Phantom, "I acted out foolishly before thinking things through, and this was the end result of such."

"What could you have done that ended up in a mess like this?" Valerie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I forgot how important humanity is…" Vlad sighed, "Though now that I've been given ten years to consider that, I doubt I'll ever forget it's worth,"

"Humanity?" Heather repeated, "I thought you said a ghost did this!"

"Look, that's not why we're here," Phantom said grimly before sighing, "Look, can we just get out of here before something else happens?" Vlad nodded thoughtfully, hobbling over to an old dresser and rummaging through it.

"You'll need this," Vlad said, pulling a strange medallion from a drawer and handing it to the young ghost, who looked surprised to see it.

"A Time Medallion?" Phantom asked. He glanced up curiously at Vlad, "How did you-?"

"I tore it from your body during your first visit, remember?" Vlad asked. "Speaking of which, I assume everything went well?"

"Yeah." Danny sighed, "And yes. He won't be bothering you anymore. Clockwork and I took care of that…"

"Good," Vlad sighed in relief. "Well then, on with out current business… the Plasmius Portal is just this way…" Valerie and Heather followed the two, confused by the conversation that had just taken place.

"What's a time medallion?" Heather asked Valerie quietly.

"No clue," Valerie confessed. "Who's Plasmius?"

"You think I know?" Heather asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Miss Grey," Valerie and Heather both jumped as Vlad turned back to them to address the ghost hunter. "May I have a word in private with you, please?"

"Sure thing, Mr. Masters," Valerie answered, slowing her pace. Phantom hesitated for a moment before sighing and continuing along with Heather and Baby. Vlad chuckled in a soft, sad way when he noticed this.

"He still doesn't fully trust me," He confided to Valerie. "Then again, I suppose it's to be expected, after all I put him through in his youth… trust is a very difficult thing to earn, especially for one who builds relationships on lies to get what they want."

"You've never lied to me, Mr. Masters!" Valerie protested instantly. Vlad gave a wry smile at that.

"You'd be surprised, my dear," He sighed. "Then again, some lies are necessary in the long run, especially when people aren't ready to face the truth…" Vlad shook his head sadly here, "I suppose that was your only mistake here as far as this timeline went, you weren't ready to know about hybrids…"

"Hybrids?" Valerie repeated. "Hybrid what?"

"That doesn't matter," Vlad told her "It's not what I wanted to talk with you about… Valerie, do you know what IMRs are?"

"…Um…" Valerie looked at her benefactor blankly, unable to place the name anywhere.

"Infinitesimal Mind Regulators," Vlad clarified, sighing heavily, "it's a technology designed by Technus with my funding." Valerie blinked at him in shock.

"Technus?" she repeated, "as in the ghost? You paid a ghost to make mind control technology for you?" The ghost hunter didn't bother to hide her horror at the thought. Such a thing seems dirty to her, like cheating. What kind of ghost hunter would pay a ghost to make something like that?

"Not mind control, exactly," Vlad frowned, "I cannot actually force someone to do my bidding. Rather, it allows me to listen to their thoughts and implant thoughts in their mind so smoothly, the people under the IMRs believe that the thoughts are their own.

"That's still mind control!" Valerie snapped, "And it's completely unethical!"

"I've done a lot worse in my day," Vlad said, not denying the accusation. "None of which I am proud of now. But I hope to make that up here, and perhaps even give the me in you're a chance to redeem himself by robbing him of one of his most underhand tools…"

"What do you mean?" Valerie asked, giving the old man a questioning glance. "Are you saying that you put those IMR things in me?"

"As I said, I made many mistake in my day, and told many lies," Vlad sighed heavily. "I used you to attempt to capture Phantom, and I am not proud of that now. I even made this for the you in this world to attempt to apologize," Vlad told the girl, handing her what looked like a red gem, smaller then a postage stamp. "But you would not accept it. You were still resentful with me over what had happened to Daniel, and the major threat on this world has already disappeared by then. You had become accustomed to using your own technology, and did not want or need my help anymore."

"What is it?" Valerie asked, frowning at the jewel.

"This is a form of technology I've been working on for the last ten years. In this jewel is the plans and schematics for a superior ghost-fighting suit, which will increase the user's strength by tenfold and give them an array of weapons unlike anything seen in this time, let alone your own. And what's more, the suit actually becomes a part of you, and can warn you of impending dangers, whether or not you're even conscious when they are taking place."

"More mind control, then?" Valerie asked coolly.

"No," Vlad said, "Actually, this will negate the IMRs I implanted in you completely. You will always have complete control over the suit, Valerie. But you must understand that the reaction is automatic, and if you choose to accept this, you can never take it out of your body. The suit will become a part of you, my dear, and you will be a ghost hunter for life."

"Would it affect me in any other way?" Valerie asked, playing nervously with the jewel in her hands.

"I cannot say for certain," Vlad admitted reluctantly, "This technology is still very new as I said before, and if you should choose to accept this, the only one who would be able to help you should things go wrong is Clockwork."

"Phantom's friend?" Valerie clarified, surprise clear in her tone. She thought for a moment, then sighed heavily. "Can I take this home with me? So I can think about it there?"

"Very well," Vlad complied, "If you want to activate it, just prick one of your thumbs to draw blood and press it against the gem, that way it recognizes you and you alone."

"Right," Valerie said, tightening her grip on the jewel. "And if I don't want it?"

"Destroy it," Vlad said without hesitations, "So that no other can find it,"

"Got it," Valerie slipped the gem into her pocket, following Vlad as he walked away to where Danny and Heather were waiting. When the older man stopped and turned to face the ghost hunter again, Valerie also slowed her walk.

"And Valerie?" Vlad added as an afterthought, "Please keep in mind that Daniel has a firm belief in second chances. That is the reason he befriended you, and I'd hope you consider the same concept with those in your life. After all, you're quite fond of Danny now, aren't you?" Valerie blushed at that as she was reminded of how 'fond' she was of her blue eyed classmate, but before she could say anything, Vlad turned back and raised his voice to address Phantom. "Use your power to activate the medallion, it will take you straight to Clockwork's Tower. From there, he can set things right for you,"

"Right," Phantom nodded. After a second's hesitation, he smiled cautiously at the older man, "Ah, thanks Vlad. For helping us I mean," Vlad merely nodded in return as Valerie rejoined the ghost and her young charge. After Vlad left, Phantom turned to speak to the ghost hunter. "So, what did Vlad want, anyways?"

"Are you gonna ask me that every time I'm out of your earshot for a few minutes?" Valerie asked. She smiled slightly when the ghost blushed guiltily. "He just wanted to tell me something, okay? And your name hardly came up at all,"

"Ah," Phantom said, sounding relieved. "I see… Well, everyone gather close for take off." Valerie and Heather obeyed (Heather only too happy to throw her arms around the ghost's waist, Baby perched on her shoulder.) and Phantom closed his eyes, his brows furrowed in concentration.

There was a brilliant flash of light, and then it cleared, the three of them found themselves in a strange tower filled with ticking clocks and floating clock gears. Valerie frowned darkly when she glanced out the window and was a familiar, spooky landscape.

_'And we're back to the Ghost Zone…'_ Valerie thought sullenly as she tensed to prepare for anything. The one thing she'd learned in her first, last, and very brief visit to this dimension was that anything could happen. _'And it usually does, too…'_

* * *

"You know, I almost forgot how creepy this place is…" She grumbled to the ghost boy next to her.

"You get used to it," Phantom commented casually.

"Hopefully, I'll never have to," She responded making a face.

_'Then again, if I follow through and become a full time hunter, I just might,'_ Valerie reminded herself with a frown. _'After all, this is where the ghosts live, and I might have to come here for some reason or another dealing with them…'_

"So, you've finally returned."

Heather and Valerie both jumped about a foot at the unfamiliar voice, Valerie clutching to Phantom's arm (Thereby surprising the ghost boy himself) and Heather hugging Baby close.

Both girls gaped at the ghost that now approached them in the shape of an old man with a long beard. Valerie never saw a ghost like him before, which was made even more pointed when he chanced from an old man to a baby without even flinching.

"Yeah," Danny sighed, "We lost the Ambiguity, though…"

"That's because it's right here," Clockwork explained, sounding faintly amused as he held the familiar, damning black box out for them to see in his free hand, "I was able to collect it as soon as it left the human plane,"

"Well what about us?" Valerie asked accusingly, glaring at the ghost as he changed into a middle-aged man. "If you could get your stupid box back, couldn't you have given us a hand?"

"I'm afraid my hands were tied as far as your fates went," Clockwork responded, not offended by the girl's temper. Quite the contrary, he seemed almost amused… "It was entirely up to you and your own abilities to see if you got out or not."

"Yeah, but you still knew all of this would happen like this," Danny pointed out, smirking knowingly at Clockwork. "The thing with the Box Ghost, our fight, the trip into the future… you saw all of it and helped it along the best you could, didn't you?" Clockwork matched the boy's look with a secretive smile of his own.

"I may have had some hand in that…" He said vaguely as he turned to put the box with others just like it that were all taking up an entire wall of the Tower.

"Well thanks for the warning…" Valerie grumbled softly, though she found she couldn't truly be angry with the ghost. After all, if he really knew as much as Phantom hinted he did, then He knew this would all turn out for the best in the end.

_'Wish I had that kind of knowledge ahead of time,'_ Valerie thought dryly as the strange ghost approached them yet again. It was then that her eye caught a battered looking thermos in a corner.

"Hey, is that a Fenton Thermos?" She asked, drawing closer for a better look.

"Don't touch that!" Phantom said sharply, grabbing Valerie's wrist to stop her from getting any closer to the device. Valerie glared at him.

"Well why not?" She demanded, "It belongs to the Fentons, after all. Why shouldn't I-?"

"Valerie," The ghost half sighed, half groaned, "Do we really had to go through all this again?" Heather giggled slightly at that and Valerie blushed, her temper ebbing as she crossed her arms to sulk pointedly.

_'Well, he doesn't need to say it like that…'_ She said irritably to herself.

"Whatever," She said out loud, "Can we go home now? My dad's probably flipping out thinking I was killed by a ghost or something…"

"Of course." Clockwork said, sounding bemused as he adjusted a few things on his staff. "Oh, and one last thing, Valerie…" The ghost gave the girl a wide, knowing grin, "She eats insects and fruits," before Valerie could ask what he meant by that, there was a brilliant flash of light and the three found themselves back in the place they'd been before the Ambiguity had been opened, plus one very intrigued Yovven kitten.

"Home!" Valerie sang out, laughing as she twirled around, "Man, I never thought I'd be this happy to see graffiti walls!" the ghost hunter almost couldn't believe they'd only been gone a day, since it felt much, MUCH longer to her…

"I hear that!" Phantom laughed before it fell away into an awkward silence. After all, neither of them were exactly sure what came next… "Ah, anyways, I'd better go…"

_'Just let him fly away, Valerie,' _The ghost hunter told herself. _'If you let things go back to how they were, everything stays simple. Let him fly away… let him… aw, who am I kidding?'_

"Phantom!" The ghost paused at his name, turning to glance at Valerie curiously from where he hovered just a few inches off the ground. Taking a deep breath, Valerie approached the ghost, speaking to him as she closed the distance between them, "I just wanted to thank you. For helping me out, I mean."

"Oh," Phantom looked faintly surprised for a second before it was replaced with a wide, genuine smile. "No problem! Besides, I should be thanking you for helping me, you had a lot more to lose when you came back for me like that…"

"Yeah, well…" Valerie sighed, a pained expression on her face, "Maybe- just maybe!- you aren't a complete and total jerk after all…" Phantom looked faintly amused at that.

"Maybe," He repeated, obviously restraining a laugh.

"But I'm reserving all judgment until later, okay? The ghost hunter continued sternly, "And so help me if you do anything wrong-!"

"Easy Val," Phantom said with a laugh, "I get the picture." Valerie blinked at the ghost in surprise. It was strange, but his tone and his expression had synched up with Danny's so much right then, it was almost scary…

"Anyways," Valerie sighed, "Thank you."

"Like I said, it was no-!" Anything else Phantom was gonna say was cut abruptly short when Valerie gave him a gentle, chaste kiss in the cheek before turning and walking away.

But not before seeing the ghost's stunned expression and the blush that was slowly rising to his face.

"Come on, Heather," Valerie said, "We've got a lot of walking to do…"

"Fun…" Heather grumbled, making a face before turning back to the ghost. "Bye, Phantom! And don't worry, your secret's safe with me!" Valerie rolled her eyes, deciding it would be better for her head if she just didn't ask.

"What a day…" Valerie sighed. "I can't wait to get home…"

"Yeah…" Heather said, sounding a little downcast, "But I still don't know what I'm gonna do with Baby!"

"I thought you were gonna ask Phantom to take care of her," Valerie said, her eyebrow raised.

"He can't," Heather said glumly, "His family would never allow it…" Valerie was a little surprised at that.

_'The ghost kid has a family?'_ She thought to herself. Talk about learning something new every day…

"Guess that means we're both in a bind," Valerie sighed, "Dad's gonna kill me when I get home…" Heather looked thoughtful for a moment at that.

"Hey, Valerie?" She said, a slight smirk playing at her lips, "What if I told you that I could get you out of trouble with your dad, and even make it so that he'd be willing to watch me for your date with Danny?" Valerie stared at her.

"You can't do that," She said, frowning, "You don't even know my dad!"

"I don't have to," Heather said confidently, "I can make any adult love me in a heartbeat."

"Seriously?" Valerie said, brightening at the though of not only not being yelled at, but also getting to spend a little quality Tucker-and-Sam free time with Danny. Realizing that this offer was too good to be true coming from Heather, Valerie frowned at the little girl. "Now what's the catch?" Heather blinked at her innocently.

"What makes you think I want anything in return?" She asked in a feigned hurt tone.

"Heather…" Valerie growled in warning. The little girl sighed.

"Well, there is one little favor…"

* * *

"Thank you again for watching Heather, Valerie," Mr. Lancer said as he finished loading the last of Heather's things in his car, "I hope she wasn't too much trouble."

"No trouble at all, Mr. Lancer," Damon said warmly, patting Heather on the head. The little girl giggled.

"Thank you for having me here, Valerie," She sang out happily, hugging the older girl's waist. "I had a lot of fun with you!" Valerie forced a smile at that.

"Oh, that's so sweet…" She said through gritted teeth, bending to return the hug, under the hearing of the adults in the room, the ghost hunter hissed one last warning into the girl's ear, _"I **will **get you for this…!"_ As they parted, Heather's grin grew, and her eyes flashed triumphantly before she left with her Uncle.

"Wow, Valerie," Damon said, sounding bemused, "You certainly have a way with children…"

"Oh shut up…" Valerie griped, flopping onto the couch, "I'm just glad everything's over and done with…" She scowled at Baby at the Yovven laced it's way between the table legs, "And I still can't believe she talked me into taking care of that thing!"

"If you hadn't-!"

"I know, I know!" Valerie moaned, cutting off the lecture before her father could start it again, "And I learned my lesson okay? Promise!" Damon chuckled softly to himself.

"Well, I'm going out to pick up some groceries," He said, putting his coat on. "What does Baby eat again?"

"Insects and fruits." Valerie sighed, making a face at the thought of the combination.

"Got it," Damon said, "sit tight until I come back okay?"

"Got it, Dad," Valerie sighed as her father left. As soon as the door shut behind him, Valerie left for her room, opening a drawer and pulling out future Vlad's gift to her.

She looked down at it thoughtfully letting it fall from one hand to another as she contemplated her choices now that she had a moment alone to think. After all, spending time with Heather and Damon around all the time was hectic, and even her outing with Danny left her with little time to think.

'Ghost hunter for life, huh?' Valerie thought, sighing. Was she really ready to make that kind of commitment? Especially on such an unstable chance. 'But even if Mr. Masters lied to me, he was right about one thing. Ghost hunting is what I'm good at, and I like doing it, too…"

Her resolve hardening, Valerie clenched the jewel in her hand, heading towards the kitchen. When she got there, she took out a knife and took a deep breath before cutting into her thumb, wincing slightly in pain. Then, as a bead of blood began to gather, Valerie pressed it against the jewel as Vlad had instructed only to be blinded by a flash of white light.

Unable to restrain a yell of surprise, the girl fell backwards, staring at her gloving hand with wide eyes as it transformed into a glove, which traveled rapidly up her arm. Closing her eyes, Valerie allowed the strange, tingling sensation to overcome every corner of her until it faded and she was left with the suit Vlad had promised her.

It was still red and black, like her last one, but the visor made it easier for Valerie to see, and she could pick up miniscule details from yards away just by concentrating on something long enough. Standing up and going through a few test moves, Valerie found the suit improved not only her strength, but her speed and dexterity as well. Amazed, Valerie clenched and unclenched her fist before grinning widely under the cover of her mask.

"Oh, yeah…" She laughed softly to herself, "I can get used to this…"

* * *

**WoM- _There you have it! I'll get the sequel out as soon as I can, but for now I'm reverting back to my six updates and one poem a week thing. Much less headache that way…_**

**_I still can't believe this is over!_ 'tears up,' _And no, the suit I gave Valerie isn't hers from FwD. I'm still kind of resentful that that one looks so evil, so I made a few alterations… check me out on deviantart to see the picture!_**

**_Oh, and I have two ideas for the sequel that I'm tossing around, both of which are Danny-PoV-Centered rather then Valerie. Tell me which one you like more and the one that gets the most votes is the one I'll do!_ (That way I still get you guys to review for me. _'winks playfully'_)**

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**Thanks to;**

Anasumi, SummersSixEcho, Horselvr4evr123, Ghost Writer's Assistant, Moss Royal, Sqweakie the Wonder Mouse, Mistress of Darkness, epobbp, Samantha-Girl Scout, Evilevergreen, Raving-Lunatic, Crazy Billie Joe Loving Freak, Sleep Warrior, Lumias, Gmasangel, The Great Susinko, BratCat, A. Nonymous, Darth Frodo, Winkaku, conan98002, Punker88, phantomshadowdragon, AirGirl Phantom, WolfDaughter, Writer's-BlockDP, KatrinaKaiba, Firehedgehog, AngelinaJohnson-Weasley, Hafae a.k.a. Hufflepuffer242, littlekittykat, Light Dragon SunsSong, Laryna6, Sammy, GoGoJirachi, Mizuki hikari, The Unknown Alias, spirit1s, JPElles, Petitio Principii, GhostAnn, avearia, Risika135, SilverstarsEbonyskies, Inumaru12, Miss Selarne, BlackDecember

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**SEQUEL SUMMARIES;**

Identities

_It's been two weeks since their adventures in the Ambiguity, and Sam and Tucker are shocked when Danny announces that he's planning on telling Valerie and his parents the truth. Confessions are put on hold, though, with the escape of Freakshow leaving everyone Danny loves in danger…_

_**Or**_

_Now that Valerie and Danny are allies, the streets of Amity Park are safer to roam. At least until Slade comes to town after acquiring an interest in the paranormal, the Titans hot on his heels. Will these heroes ban together under a common enemy, or will differences drive a them apart?_

_**Tell me with one you like more! The title fits both of them so either or….**_


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